Matchroom head honcho Eddie Hearn, speaking with Ak and Barak on the DAZN Boxing Show, laid out his plans for Ryan Garcia’s immediate future after this Saturday’s bout with Emmanuel Tagoe. With George Kambosos Jr. and Devin Haney potentially slated for back-to-back bouts and Gervonta Davis busy with Rolando Romero in May, Hearn wants “Kingry” to stay active, and he has a dance partner in mind.
“I called [Golden Boy president] Eric Gomez the other day and I said, ‘let’s bring Ryan Garcia to the UK. You know, we got a young fighter called Maxi Hughes who’s been winning this IBO title against [Jovanni] Straffon, defended it against Ryan Walsh. I wanna give this kid the opportunity; let’s go and do a big outdoor event in Yorkshire, bring Ryan Garcia. It’ll be wild.’”
Gomez “likes” the suggestion, per Hearn, though Hearn admits that Garcia (21-0, 18 KO) is keen on bigger fights.
Hearn isn’t wrong about the biggest names being occupied, though he’s exaggerating the burden waiting two months for the Davis-Romero winner. He’s also not wrong about keeping Garcia active; he fought four times in 2019, twice in 2019, and then once each in 2020 and 2021.
Hughes (25-5-2, 5 KO) seems like a hard sell, though, even with his current great form. He’s a damn sight more appealing a foe than Tagoe, but fighting him may not go over well when Garcia has so consistently run his mouth about challenging the top dogs.
Still, it’d be nice for Hughes to get a big-money opportunity. He’s earned it at this point.