Eddy Reynoso, Ryan Garcia’s trainer, had a word to describe Garcia’s performance against Luke Campbell this past Saturday in Dallas: “Spectacular.”
Reynoso wasn’t talking about the body shot that took Campbell out in the seventh round, though. He was referring to fortitude his protégé demonstrated by rising from a second-round knockdown to get the job done in his biggest fight.
The trainer spoke to Boxing Junkie through a translator on Thursday.
“I told him in the locker room [afterward]: ‘I don’t just like that you won the fight. I like the balls you demonstrated in the ring. That’s what I’m happy with,” he said.
“I got worried a lot,” he went on, referring to the second-round knockdown. “When you have a fighter who, for all intents and purposes, is a novice who has won all his recent fights by knockout, you don’t know how he’ll react in a situation like that.
“I liked his reaction. He’s a true warrior.”
Reynoso hasn’t hesitated to say that Garcia, 22, is a work in progress. Campbell was his first elite opponent, after all.
The product of Victorville, Calif., has unusual qualities – his quickness and power, for example – but many observers thought he looked like a developing boxer in the Campbell fight, meaning he still has a lot of work to do.
Reynoso is OK with that assessment.
“Yes, Ryan still has a lot of experience to gain,” he said. “He made some mistakes, mistakes that we will fix. He’s only 22. He’s going to keep learning. He’s very smart. He’s still kind of a novice. But who’s not a novice at his age?
“We’re going to continue to work hard and fix his errors in the ring.”
Reynoso and Garcia might not have a lot of time to do that.
Garcia called out Gervonta Davis during his post-fight interview on Saturday. He also mentioned Devin Haney, another top lightweight. He clearly isn’t interested in picking low-hanging fruit. He thinks big.
Reynoso was asked whether it might be too early for that kind of challenge. First, he applauded the top 135-pounders – Davis, Haney, Teofimo Lopez, Garcia – for stirring the pot by calling one another out. That generates anticipation and excitement.
And, second, while Reynoso acknowledges that Garcia is still evolving as a fighter, he believes the young man could compete with anyone if given enough time to prepare.
“Ryan is getting to that place where he can take on any challengers,” Reynoso said. “… He has something very special; with one punch he could knock anyone out. He still has things to learn. We have to work on defense, we have to work on the way he attacks his opponent.
“But he’s on a good path. If I was told tomorrow that we have to fight Davis or Haney or Lopez, I would ask only one thing: a training camp of three, four months. Then I feel strongly that he would be prepared to fight anyone.”
[lawrence-related id=16967,16955,16952,16940,16907]