If there were a Mount Rushmore for popular fighters in the 21st century, Ryan Garcia would have a fair shout at taking one of the four slots.
The 27-year-old is a polarising figure — movie-idol looks, millions of social-media followers and a career that has been nothing short of a rollercoaster. But on February 21, ‘King Ry’ looks set to challenge Mario Barrios for the WBC welterweight title, an announcement Garcia made on social media.
Garcia’s own career may be light years from being mentioned among the sport’s all-time greats, but covers.com asked the Californian for his personal boxing Mount Rushmore.
“This is my boxing Mount Rushmore: Floyd Mayweather. Sugar Ray Leonard. Muhammad Ali. Henry Armstrong.”
Mayweather famously beat Garcia’s current promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, in a generational super-fight 18 years ago. ‘Money’ went on to amass astronomical riches and collect world titles across five weight classes.
Leonard may not be the greatest Sugar of all time, but he could easily be regarded as the finest boxer of the 1980s. Mayweather was a defensive genius; Leonard was equally gifted on defence and attack. Legacy-defining wins over Wilfred Benítez, Roberto Durán, Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler ensured his place among boxing’s pantheon of greats.
Muhammad Ali would be a lock for most fans’ Mount Rushmore. ‘The Greatest’ combined blurring hand speed with footwork more befitting a middleweight than a heavyweight. His roles in The Rumble in the Jungle and The Thrilla in Manila — beating George Foreman and Joe Frazier respectively — are career highlights, alongside victories over Sonny Liston, Ken Norton, Leon Spinks and more.
Go further back and you find Henry Armstrong, a 5ft 5½in terror whose career ended with 101 knockouts in 180 fights. During a 15-year run he held three world titles — when only eight divisions existed — simultaneously. With nineteen welterweight title defences in just two years, the ferocious ‘Homicide Hank’ earned both notoriety and acclaim.
Armstrong also won featherweight and lightweight titles either side of his welterweight reign in the 1930s — a true phenomenon in every sense.
