Ryan Garcia (born August 8, 1998) is an American professional boxer. He has held the World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight title since 2026. He previously held the WBC interim lightweight title in 2021.
Garcia started boxing at the age of seven and dreamed of one day representing the United States in the 2016 Olympics. He became a 15-time national amateur champion and amassed an amateur record of 215 wins and 15 losses. His father Henry boxed professionally for a short time and trained his son to box.
Garcia turned professional at age 17 on June 9, 2016. In his first professional bout, he fought against Edgar Meza in Tijuana, winning the match by TKO. Garcia soon signed with Golden Boy Promotions in November 2016. Oscar De La Hoya announced Garcia would make his debut on December 17, 2016, on the Smith-Hopkins light-heavyweight main event at The Forum. Garcia won the fight by knockout in the second round.
In October 2018, Garcia started training with Eddy Reynoso, who also trained Canelo Álvarez and Óscar Valdez at their gym in San Diego, California. In September 2019, Garcia extended his contract with a new five-year deal with Golden Boy Promotions. Specific details of the multi-year deal were not disclosed.
Golden Boy announced Garcia's next bout would be the co-main event of Canelo Álvarez vs. Sergey Kovalev at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. On September 18, 2019, Romero Duno was announced as Garcia's next opponent. Garcia defeated Duno with a first-round knockout, capturing the WBC Silver lightweight title.
On January 2, 2020, Golden Boy announced Garcia would be facing Francisco Fonseca on February 14 at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Garcia landed seven punches in the fight before landing a lead left hook which knocked out Fonseca in the first round.
WBC interim lightweight champion
On October 8, it was announced Garcia would be facing Olympic gold medalist Luke Campbell for the interim WBC lightweight title at Fantasy Springs Resort in Indio, California. The fight was originally scheduled for December 5, 2020, but was pushed back to January 2, 2021, due to Campbell contracting COVID-19. The venue was also changed to the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. In round 2 of his fight with Campbell, Garcia was knocked down for the first time in his professional career. He survived the knockdown, as he got up shortly after hitting the canvas. Later on in the fight, in round 7, Garcia hit Luke Campbell with a fight-ending body shot. CompuBox statistics show Garcia outlanded Campbell 94 to 74 (32%) in total punches, and 77 to 51 (44%) in power punches, with Campbell outlanding Garcia in jabs 23 to 17 (15%). The fight was ultimately Campbell's last bout before his retirement.
Cancelled bouts vs. Fortuna and Diaz
On April 13, 2021, it was announced by DAZN that Garcia would defend his newly won WBC interim lightweight title against Dominican former WBA (Regular) super-featherweight champion, Javier Fortuna. The bout was set for July 9 in a location to be determined, and the winner would become the mandatory challenger to WBC lightweight champion, Devin Haney. However, on April 24, Garcia announced he had withdrawn from the bout, to "manage his health and well being". Former IBF super-featherweight champion Joseph Diaz agreed to move up to lightweight to fill in for Garcia and fight Fortuna on July 9. Garcia was subsequently stripped of his newly crowned WBC interim lightweight title, with the title being on the line for Diaz and Fortuna instead.
On October 8, 2021, it was announced that Garcia would be challenging Joseph Diaz in Los Angeles on November 27 for his WBC interim lightweight title following Díaz's victory over Fortuna, the same title Garcia had held after beating Luke Campbell and was subsequently stripped of earlier in 2021. On October 15, 2021, Mike Coppinger of ESPN revealed that García suffered a hand injury and the fight with Diaz was to be postponed. However, the bout ultimately never materialized.
On February 4, 2022, it was announced that Garcia would be returning to the ring after a long spell of inactivity against former IBO lightweight champion Emmanuel Tagoe on April 9. Prior to the fight, Garcia left Reynoso and started training with Joe Goossen. He easily dominated Tagoe, winning by unanimous decision with scores of 119–108, 119–108, and 118–109; this was his first bout to go the 12-round distance. He scored a knockdown in the second round and hurt Tagoe badly in the tenth, but was unable to finish his cagey opponent.
On July 16, 2022, Garcia faced Javier Fortuna in a super-lightweight bout at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. Garcia dominated the fight, scoring knockdowns in rounds four, five, and six, with the referee stopping the fight after the third knockdown. All the judges had scored the fight identically 50–43 prior to the stoppage, giving Garcia every round. Garcia received praise for his performance, which was described as being an improvement over his performance against Tagoe.
The development of a fight between Davis and Ryan Garcia evolved over several years, beginning with early discussions in mid-2020 when both fighters publicly agreed, in principle, to face each other in 2021. On November 17, Davis and Garcia announced via Instagram that a deal had been reached for a fight in 2023, set at a 136-pound catchweight limit and planned as a Showtime Pay-Per-View main event. Davis confirmed he would fight on January 7, which was expected to headline a Showtime PPV event, taking place in Washington, D.C. Garcia had been planning to campaign at 140 pounds, but agreed to drop weight to face Davis. On January 18, De La Hoya confirmed that a contract had been received for the proposed bout, indicating that final details were being completed. The fight was targeted for April 15, 2023. The date was pushed back one week, to take place on April 22. The rematch clause was only in place for Davis, meaning that if Garcia was to lose the fight, he was not able to automatically activate a rematch clause. At the time of the fight being announced, Davis was a 3-1 favorite, according to Caesars Sportsbook. On March 7, the T-Mobile Arena was announced as the venue. On April 4, Davis claimed he had inside information from Garcia’s training camp, suggesting the existence of a “mole” or “snitch.” Davis indicated that this source had revealed details about Garcia being hurt during sparring, particularly to the body.
Ahead of the bout, Garcia revealed that his contract included a rehydration clause requiring him to weigh no more than 146 pounds on fight night, 10 pounds above the agreed catchweight of 136 pounds. Garcia stated that the restriction would not affect his performance, while De La Hoya described the clause as standard and had no concerns. Davis weighed 135¼ pounds and Garcia, weighed slightly more at 135½ pounds. There was a brief altercation during the face-off, where Davis lightly pushed Garcia before officials separated them. Both were required to adhere to a 146‑pound limit. Davis and Garcia both satisfied a contractual second-day weigh-in requirement, weighing 144.1 pounds and 144.9 pounds respectively.
In one of boxing's most anticipated fights of the year, Davis defeated Garcia via seventh-round knockout, with a decisive body shot. From the beginning, Garcia started aggressively, using right hands and hooks to back up Davis. The first round was largely an exploratory round, with both fighters working on distance and timing. In the second round, Garcia overextended with a left hook, allowing Davis to slip the punch and counter with a hard left hook, dropping Garcia. Despite beating the count, Garcia’s momentum slowed down, and he adopted a more cautious approach in the middle rounds. Between the third and sixth rounds, both exchanged jabs and body shots, with Davis targeting Garcia’s body, strategically to slow him down. Garcia regained some confidence in the sixth and landed several rights to Davis’ face, but Davis maintained composure. In the seventh round, Davis landed a powerful left hand to the body, causing Garcia to take a knee. He attempted to rise but, visibly in pain and struggling to breathe, could not continue. Referee Thomas Taylor counted him out at 1:44 of the round, resulting in a seventh-round knockout win for Davis. This marked Davis’ 29th professional win and 27th knockout, while Garcia suffered the first loss of his career, dropping to 23–1. At the time of stoppage, Davis was comfortably ahead on all 3 judges scorecards with scores 59–55 (twice) and 58–56.