Ryan Garcia is looking to take over both the welterweight division and the sport of boxing as a whole, but there is one fighter whose legacy Garcia is hoping to emulate, believing his greatness surpasses that of modern icon Floyd Mayweather.
Mayweather retired with a 50-0 professional record, but he has been linked to a comeback this year, with a potential rematch against Manny Pacquiao now being targeted for 2027 if reports are to be believed.
However, whilst ‘TBE’ retired without a loss to his name, Garcia believes that Mayweather’s ‘0’ is not as important as others see it to be and that the 49-year-old protected his unbeaten streak by carefully selecting his opponents.
In an interview with Club Shay Shay, Garcia declared that he would prefer to be remembered like Sugar Ray Leonard rather than Mayweather, insinuating that he plans to take on the best available fighters at all times in his career.
“I would rather be [Sugar Ray] Leonard than Floyd, in my heart.
“He [Floyd] ducked in a very strategic way, he ain’t duck, but he [was like], ‘ooh, not right now… okay I will do it now.’
“He did it a little bit more intelligently, I guess, it was like, ‘I don’t want him right now, he looking a little too nice.’”
When pushed further on his words, ‘King Ry’ outlined some possible fights than Mayweather failed to deliver at certain points in his career.
“I think there were certain moments where he could have gave us the real fights at the right time. I think that he could have fought guys like Shane Mosley [earlier], but he says he was calling Shane Mosley out at the right time.
“He could even have fought Paul Williams before he got in that accident. He could have fought Pacquiao a little earlier, that’s the major one, everybody knows that one though. Oscar [De La Hoya], that wasn’t his fault but he did get Oscar a little late.”
Leonard ruled as a five-division world champion and Olympic gold medalist who defeated some of boxing’s greatest names, including Roberto Durán, Thomas Hearns, and Marvin Hagler
As for Garcia, following his win over Conor Benn last weekend, he is expected to next target a unification clash with WBA welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez.
