Ryan Garcia’s Next Fight Confirmed; Garcia Wants Jake Paul After
Ryan Garcia will fight Rukiya Anpo in a December 30 exhibition in Japan on PPV.
According to reports, the bout will be an eight-rounder, with each round lasting two minutes. Garcia has not boxed since beating Devin Haney via a majority decision in April. However, the result became a no-contest after Garcia failed VADA tests for Ostarine. Despite his attempts to state that he did not intentionally take any substances, strict liability meant that he received a one-year ban.
Garcia recently returned to training as he set his sights on making a comeback. He will be allowed to box professionally from April 2025 onwards. There was talk over a rematch with Devin Haney, as both sides were open to it. However, since then, Oscar De La Hoya has stated that this will not be the case.
Garcia’s Comeback
The WBO Junior Welterweight Champion Teofimo Lopez has been mentioned as a possible name. Meanwhile, Bernard Hopkins suggested that Garcia should have a ‘respectable’ tune up before facing the big names. And now it appears that Anpo has gotten the go-ahead.
Anpo showed that he could hold himself in the ring when he outboxed Manny Pacquiao during their three-rounder, even if there was no official result. The fight will allow Garcia to remain active and remove any ring rust. It will also enable him to earn some cash, given the loss of earnings he has suffered since the ban. He was ordered to pay Haney a $1.5 million fine, something which he agreed to do after not making the junior welterweight limit.
Garcia also exposes himself to a wider market since Japan is an up-and-coming flourishing environment for boxing. Garcia was on hand to attend Manny Pacquiao’s fight against Anpo in Japan. Nevertheless, there is an argument over whether Garcia should be allowed to box at all. Boxers who are suspended for PEDs should arguably not be allowed to earn money to suffer the punishment for their actions. Conor Benn’s UKAD suspension raised this point after he tested positive for Clomiphene. This prevented him from boxing inside the UK.
Garcia Reacts
However, Benn decided to box overseas as he faced off against Rodolfo Orozco and Peter Dobson in the US. While they were uneventful unanimous decision wins, Benn ultimately picked up purses for fights. But Garcia has set his sights on Jake Paul after this exhibition. His comments were made after Paul’s win over Mike Tyson. Despite receiving criticism for that fight, Paul earned a reported $40 million from the fight. A Paul-Garcia fight would equally generate big numbers moving forward.
“Ight I’ve been quiet for some time but I’ve been cooking on some plans before my actual return to the ring Here is the plan before April Exhibition in December in Japan against the guy who fought aging manny pac and tried to knock him out. And then go after Jake for uncle Mike,” Garcia said
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