Ryan Garcia is set to defend his WBC welterweight title against Conor Benn next weekend, and ahead of that bout, fan-favourite three-division world champion James Toney has compared the Californian superstar to one Mexican legend.
Garcia had been scheduled to challenge for two world titles prior to his world title win, first missing the opportunity to win a belt by missing weight ahead of a shot at Devin Haney’s WBC super-lightweight crown, before losing to Rolando Romero in a quest for the WBA welterweight throne last year.
However, back in February, it proved to be third time lucky for ‘King Ry’ as he dominated Mario Barrios to get his hands on the WBC welterweight marble via unanimous-decision.
For his first defence, Garcia will face Benn, who was installed as the WBC mandatory challenger despite not fighting at 147lbs since April 2022 – and looks to be struggling with the weight cut.
Speaking ahead of the fight, Toney told ESNews that Garcia reminds him of Salvador Sanchez, who was tipped by many to be one of boxing’s best ever fighters until a tragic and fatal car crash at the age of just 23 years old.
“[Garcia reminds me of] Salvador Sanchez,
“Salvador Sanchez is the greatest Mexican fighter ever. Period. Not Canelo, Canelo is a great fighter but come on, dog. Look what Salvador Sanchez did in such a short amount of time.”
Sanchez held the WBC featherweight title from 1980 until his sad death in 1982, with his final record reading 44 wins from 46 fights, 32 of those wins by knockout.
As for Garcia’s upcoming fight with Benn, ‘Lights Out’ Toney then went on to predict a statement victory for Garcia, believing that his fellow American will defeat Benn inside the first five rounds.
“Ryan is a talent, man. I am serious. He is different, it [Benn] is going to be easy work for him. Five rounds.”
Garcia-Benn takes place on Saturday, September 12, with Jai Opetaia scheduled to take on reigning WBC cruiserweight world champion Noel Mikaelian in the co-main event.
