Ryan Garcia’s getting his boxing plans in order, looking at a return by the end of 2023 and then a “big fight” in February 2024.
Garcia says he’s going to Milan to “walk in fashion week,” which is very exciting news for fight fans, I know, then he’ll be going to Vegas to train.
It does sound like he plans to fight in November, as Oscar De La Hoya recently reiterated, and then that “big fight” early in the new year:
I’m headed to Milan walking in fashion week
then headed to Vegas to train
Big end of the year stretch! Then I have something big possibly happening in February. Big 140 fight but first handle business
— RYAN GARCIA (@RyanGarcia) September 19, 2023
Garcia (23-1, 19 KO) has been out of the ring since his knockout loss to Gervonta “Tank” Davis five months ago, and has since parted ways with trainer Joe Goossen and moved on to Derrick James down in Texas. Garcia and James linked up in May, so there has been some time for them to get work in, with a first full training camp to come soon.
The 25-year-old Garcia will be campaigning at 140, where he’d already been for wins over Emmanuel Tagoe and Javier Fortuna in 2022, before coming back down to a 136 lb contract weight for the Davis fight.
The November fight will not be something big, that’s already being made pretty clear. It sounds like it will be a rebound or bounce-back sort of thing, but it’s also worth questioning what Garcia will call a “big” fight for February, too. Boxers and promoters often have very different ideas of what that means compared to fans, and even if it really is something big, it would have to actually get done.
But he does have a plan of attack.