On Saturday night, Ryan Garcia attempts to finally get his hands on a world title as he challenges Mario Barrios for the WBC welterweight crown. Ahead of the action, four-division world champion Shakur Stevenson has revealed his prediction.
Garcia was set to challenge Devin Haney for the WBC super-lightweight title back in 2024 until he missed the weight and consequently, the opportunity to win the belt, but he still went ahead with the fight.
To the surprise of many, ‘King Ry’ went on to pull off the upset win and hand Devin Haney a first career defeat, but only temporarily.
During the aftermath, it was revealed that Garicia had tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug, Ostarine, and the result was overturned to a no-contest, whilst Garcia was handed a one-year ban from the sport.
Controversially, upon his return, Garcia was granted an immediate world title shot for the WBA regular welterweight belt against Rolando Romero, but once again the Californian was unable to get his hands on the title – this time losing via unanimous decision.
This weekend, Garcia gets another opportunity to claim world honours, tasked with what some fans believe to be low-hanging fruit in Barrios and, on ‘Inside The Ring’, Stevenson predicted a win for the challenger.
“Ryan. Decision”
Stevenson also welcomed a possible meeting with Garcia down the line, accepting Garcia’s offer of a proposed 144lb catchweight contest.
“I love the fight, I think that is perfect. There would be a lot of excitement for that fight, it’s a big money fight. Ryan Garcia is somebody that comes in there and you never know which version of him is going to show up.
“If the good version of him shows up, he gets spanked. If the bad version of him shows up, he gets spanked. Either way, he don’t stand a chance.”
However, despite making the offer, it is unlikely that ‘King Ry’ will be able to make 144lbs, with Stevenson likely needing to move up to welterweight in order to make that fight happen.
