Boxing
Ryan Garcia, Luke Campbell not lacking confidence heading into Saturday's fight
Click here to watch Garcia vs. Campbell on DAZN
Ryan Garcia enters Saturday's interim WBC lightweight title contest against Luke Campbell, looking to garner the biggest win of his young career.
The 22-year-old has made it clear that he will take care of the 2012 Olympic gold medalist. Some people have mistaken Garcia's confidence as being too cocky — that he's overlooking Campbell towards possible fights with Gervonta Davis, Devin Haney and Teofimo Lopez, and doesn't think the Brit isn't good enough to be inside the ring with him.
During Thursday's press conference, Garcia slammed the door shut on those theories, except for the part about how things will shake out when the ring announcer declares the winner of the bout.
"I've always said he's a good fighter," Garcia said. "I've never said he's a bad fighter. But I just know that with my skills and what I have (with) all the hard work I've put in, I'm confident I will become victorious."
Like Garcia, Campbell (20-3, 16 KOs) has shown a ton of confidence heading into this weekend's tilt. Two of his three defeats have come against former world champions Jorge Linares and Vasiliy Lomachenko. "Cool Hand Luke" feels a win over the rising star would erase those setbacks and vault him ahead of everyone else at 135 pounds.
"I want to prove I'm the best in the division," Campbell said. "I believe I'm the best in the division. Once I beat Ryan, that will answer a lot of questions."
Many feel Garcia (20-0, 17 KOs) will take care of Campbell inside the distance because he finished Romero Duno and Francisco Fonseca in a combined time of 2:58. While "King Ry" wants to dust Campbell, he's also prepared for the battle of his life.
"I've trained for a war because I know Luke is a tough guy," Garcia said. "When he gets hit, he gets dropped and gets back up and keeps fighting. If he can take the shots and he gets dropped, I've seen him get up and fight on. I think that it might be a good fight.
"I'm just going to give it everything I got," Garcia added. "Don't blink."
The hype on Garcia is massive. Some think he can be the next big thing in boxing. Campbell believes this fight will prove who the best really is in the lightweight division.
"We'll soon found out on Saturday," Campbell said on the Garcia hype.
"I've come to fight," Campbell added. "It's going to be fantastic (with) what I believe are the top two guys in the division."
