Garcia vs Fortuna Preview
A dynamic lightweight fight will be taking place in Los Angeles on Saturday July 16 between phenom Ryan Garcia and former champion Javier Fortuna.
The fight is a rescheduled fight which was originally supposed to take place in 2021 but Garcia dropped out of the fight to address his mental health. The 23-year-old will be facing his toughest challenge in his young career in Fortuna.
Garcia is the former interim WBC lightweight champion which was a title he held for a short time from January to May 2021. He defeated Emmanuel Tagoe by unanimous decision for his last fight in April improving his record to 22-0. The Victorville native was asked how he has been preparing for Fortuna and he responded by saying, “Pretty much watch his fights and have a base game plan, but honestly, when I'm in there, I'm just gonna pick him apart,” he said. “There's so many ways I could destroy him, so it's really whatever unfolds in front of me.”
The former champion is looking for a big-time showdown with a current champion should he win on Saturday. “I think it's quite obvious where we are headed once we pass Fortuna,” said Garcia. “I am going to campaign for the fight against Gervonta Davis. And I'm all about the truth. And the way these managers and people try to spin off on me because it's so easy to look at me and say that I'm ducking. We're not, because of all the things I've said. But it's really been set-up traps and illusions by these promoters and these managers to make it seem like I ducked out of the fight in some way when the facts are that I never ducked a fight and I've always tried to make it happen. So now I just try to find ways to really exploit the truth and clear the fog in the way of the truth. And this is the way I feel like I could do it, is to really be as transparent as I can be at every step of the way.”
Garcia is the bigger, faster, and longer fighter but Fortuna is known for making a fight dirty and forcing the action. The biggest criticism of Garcia is that he at times during fights will leave his chin up in the air to be hit. Have his coaches finally identified this flaw and corrected it, or will Fortuna find Garcia’s chin much like Luke Campbell did when he knocked down Garcia for the first time in his career in 2021?
Fortuna is a former WBA (regular) junior lightweight champion having held the title from 2015 to 2016 and he was also a former interim featherweight champion from 2012 to 2013. The Dominican fighter is unphased by the hype on Garcia. “Ryan is not as big as what everyone makes him out to be. He doesn’t have the capacity and doesn’t have the talent to beat me. I hope he is ready,” Fortuna said. “Ryan’s speed doesn't faze me. I know how to take that away from him. I have the experience to do it. You’ll see during fight night. You’ll see my power. I am looking forward to beating him at his house.”
The 32-year-old also commented on Garcia’s mental health issues. “Ryan looked good against Tagoe,” said Fortuna. “Ryan doesn’t have any mental health issues. The same week he announced he had mental health issues he was messing around with his girlfriend.”
Fortuna (37-3-1-2, 26 KO) has key victories in his career over Cristobal Cruz, Francisco Lorenzo, Carlos Velasquez and Jesus Cuellar. While many pundits consider him to be a stepping stone for Garcia, he brings experience and intensity that Garcia has not seen in the ring. A Fortuna win would be one of the bigger upsets of 2022, but to many boxing analysts would not be a total shock.
