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Ryan Garcia disposed of Luke Campbell with Tank Davis and Manny Pacquiao on his mind.
Proving he’s not all talk and worth the hype, Garcia rose from the canvas in the 2nd round to knock out Campbell with a liver punch in the 7th and clinch the interim World Boxing Council lightweight crown on Saturday, January 2 (Sunday, January 3, Philippine time) at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
Campbell sneaked in an overhand left to the chin for Garcia’s first-ever knockdown, but the brash American shrugged it off to dictate the tempo and finally catch the Briton open for the vicious body shot.
Even before the fight, however, Garcia was already plotting his course for 2021.
“After I beat Luke Campbell, I definitely want to fight Tank Davis next,” Garcia told BoxingScene.com Friday. “Gervonta Davis is next on my list. Maybe [WBC lightweight titlist] Devin Haney can fight Teofimo [Lopez, lineal lightweight champion and WBA/IBF/WBO titlist] and after that,I can fight the winner.”
“After Tank and before I fight the winner of Devin and Teofimo, maybe I can get my dream fight with Manny Pacquiao,” said Garcia, who climbed to 21-0 with 18 knockouts while pulling Campbell down to 20-14, 16 knockouts.
“After I beat Tank Davis, my dream fight is to get to Manny Pacquiao before he gets to go from the sport.”
The 22-year-old Garcia, who boasts 8 million Instagram and almost 500,000 Twitter followers, idolizes Pacquiao and regards the eight-division world champion as boxing’s remaining legend.
“I love Pacquiao, he is one of my inspirations,” Garcia told Fight Hype in an earlier interview. “He is what I aspire to be in the ring, you know like Muhammad Ali, Manny Pacquiao. It’s just Manny Pacquiao is so humble, like I’d have to get like that at an older age.
Garcia believes he’s worthy of taking over Pacquiao’s hallowed spot in the sport.
“It’s a passing of the torch,” said Garcia. “He was a legend, the real legend. Floyd [Mayweather] was a legend of course in boxing but he had a chance to inspire kids but he did it in a different way, I guess with the money and everything. But I’m looking to do stuff beyond boxing. Manny Pacquiao did something beyond boxing. Floyd only did boxing. So I feel Manny Pacquiao needs to pass that torch to me.”
Before being extended to 7 rounds by Campbell, Garcia posted first-round demolitions of Filipino Romero Duno and Nicaraguan Francisco Fonseca.
One of the judges of Garcia-Campbell was California-based Filipino Rey Danseco. – Rappler.com
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