New Pound for Pound star Ryan Garcia is accepting callouts after defeating Devin Haney in a stunning performance on Saturday night.
On the back of dropping Haney three times and seeing out a majority decision in New York, Garcia has become the talk of the sport. His stock rose ten-fold despite previous questionable activity during the build-up.
Now that the dust has settled, Garcia sees a flood of fighters lining up to trade blows with the recently-elevated WBN P4P number ten. Those include controversial British welterweight Conor Benn and UFC fighter Sean O’Malley.
Garcia himself has singled out Sebastian Fundora for a super welterweight title shot, Gervonta Davis for a rematch, and Jaron Ennis.
“I had a vision to fight Fundora at 154. I feel like I could knock him out. Really random. I just feel like I can get a title at 154,” said Garcia.
To Benn, Garcia added: “Let’s run it in London at The O2. I will fracture your spleen and then eat it. Shoutout, London.”
Benn had initially congratulated Garcia by saying: Great performance from Garcia, I called it; credit to Devin Haney for getting up off the floor three times. I will fight any of these guys.
Addressing the elephant in the room, Garcia then pointed to the fact Benn lost a recent appeal by the British Boxing Board of Control against lifting a temporary ban over failed drug tests.
“You know I’m about the business, but you can’t even fight in your own country,” Garcia told Benn.
Former world champion Jessie Vargas placed himself into the conversation by stating: “I like the idea of this fight, but for you to call Ryan a loudmouth seems contradictory. I know some fighters who are loudmouths and haven’t accomplished anything, hint.”
Garcia will be taking some time off after what must have been an exhausting build-up for him to sustain. His constant trolling was relentless as the Californian hoodwinked all into believing he’d gone off the rails completely. Many feared for his safety, leading to odds for a victory moving in his favor. He subsequently bet on himself and won – in more ways than one.
Ryan Garcia is big business. But whoever he fights next, a move up to welterweight will undoubtedly be on his mind.
Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor since 2010. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
