CALABASAS, Calif. -- It's the tail end of training camp and Ryan Garcia is happy, vibrant and loose. For an enigmatic superstar with sublime athletic gifts, leading man looks and the largest social media following in the sport, the 28-year-old Garcia is no stranger to pressure, inconsistent performances and a pre-fight tabloid circus or two throughout his 10-year pro career. Yet, at an exact point in his career -- entering the first welterweight title defense -- when many first-time world titleholders would be overwhelmed by the pressure to prove you have staying power, Garcia (25-2, 20 KOs) is enjoying the calm after the storm of finally living up to the longheld promise he has shown since the amateurs at a time when his personal life is relatively serene.
On Saturday, Garcia will defend his WBC title against the brash U.K. star Conor Benn (25-1, 14 KOs), the son of Hall-of-Famer Nigel Benn, in a star-studded welterweight showdown inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (8 p.m. "King Ry," a Mexican-American sharpshooter from California's San Bernardino Valley about 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles, attempts to step firmly onto the solid ground of his absolute prime in his first shot headlining a big fight on boxing's coveted commercial holiday of Mexican Independence Day Weekend. every UFC numbered event and UFC Fight Night is included with your subscription! Plans start as low as $8.99/month or $89.99/year!
"I'm in the best shape of my life, I'm in my prime," Garcia told CBS Sports during a sitdown inside the Craft Boxing gym. "This is going to be an ass whipping bro, like bad. You will be entertained, I'm telling you.
Everybody that's watching this, your hunger for violence will be satisfied. Your hunger for art will be satisfied. You will be entertained." It simply wouldn't be a Garcia fight without the topic of mental health being debated as part of the fight's handicapping and pre-fight analysis and, to be fair, we aren't that far removed from a 2024 crash out of epic proportions within the public eye when Garcia went from prince to pariah and back throughout a roller coaster of disturbing behavior, substance abuse and drug suspension.
Even Garcia's comeback fight from the fallout of the chaos was epically bizarre as he was dropped and outpointed despite being a massive betting favorite in a 2025 title loss to Rolando Romero outdoors in New York's Times Square where Garcia looked like he didn't want to be there. "I was a little passive [against Romero] from the year-and-a-half layoff," Garcia said. "[It was] just a weird moment in my life but a lot of people like to look too much into one fight.
Most of the time, I've fought really, really amazing and entertained the fans. I've got the Luke Campbell performance [when Garcia got off the canvas to score a resounding knockout in 2021] and there have been some really great moments. At the end of the day, it's one fight." Garcia has moved on quickly from the stink of the Romero fight and isn't all that interested in litigating what went wrong.
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