Ryan Garcia will have to weigh his options moving forward in more ways than one.
Garcia (22-0, 18 KOs) will fight for the first time as a 140-pound fighter Saturday night when he takes on Javier Fortuna (37-3-1, 26 KOs) at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on DAZN.
The fight is taking place at the super lightweight limit at the request of Fortuna, who felt that having just seven weeks to prepare for the fight was not enough time to slim down to the 135-pound limit that Garcia has fought in since 2018.
After having a more comfortable time in camp to make weight, Garcia is now reconsidering which weight class he’ll be fighting in the future.
“I was thinking the other day. I might never go back to 135,” Garcia said immediately after the weigh-in on The DAZN Boxing Show. “I was determined to make 135. I would have made it easy, but it just feels better to be at 140. It doesn't make sense.”
Garcia has not yet won a world title as a lightweight, and after belittling the value of boxing’s belts, he proclaimed that he’s more worried about making big fights than satisfying an appetite for sanctioning body alphabet soup.
“I'm not desperate for a 135 bout. I’m desperate to make the biggest fights possible, and to give the fans what they want,” said Garcia.
“The best fight is me and Tank [Gervonta Davis] – that’s a crazy fight for everyone in the whole world. Everybody is going to be watching. That’s what I’m desperate for. I want to give the fans everything they want. That’s where my heart is positioned at.”
Davis has campaigned across three different divisions (130, 135, and 140 pounds) across his last four fights dating back to 2020, and Garcia is confident he can strike a deal with Davis at the super lightweight limit if needed.
“Tank will fight me at 140, I’m pretty sure,” said Garcia.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or on www.ManoukAkopyan.com.