Ryan Garcia knocks out Javier Fortuna in six, calls out Gervonta Davis

Ryan Garcia did what he needed to do against Javier Fortuna.

Lightweight boxing contender Ryan Garcia (23-0, 19 KOs) maintained his unbeaten record in front of a passionate crowd at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, stopping Javier Fortuna (37-4-1, 26 KOs) in the sixth round to notch his second victory of 2022. ‘KingRy’ took this fight at 140 lbs at the request of Fortuna, who rehydrated up to 157 lbs on fight night, which for an already undersized lightweight suggested he was not in good fighting shape. Truth be told, he didn’t look it either.

Garcia was sharp and active, showcasing his handspeed and accuracy with both hands. Fortuna tried to roughhouse (as he’s known to do) but wasn’t all that successful. His offense was otherwise sporadic and not very effective.

About midway through the fourth round, Garcia put Fortuna down with a vicious body shot not too dissimilar from the punch that knocked Luke Campbell out. Cleverly and cynically, Fortuna beat the count and bought himself extra time by spitting out his mouthpiece. Garcia didn’t go all-out for the finish but he did shake Fortuna twice more with hooks.

That Garcia check hook was money for much of the fight and sure enough he scored a second knockdown of Fortuna in the fifth round. That was a heavy knockdown and Fortuna was definitely hurt. Fortuna did catch Garcia with a right hand that live looked like it stunned him, but Garcia was more off balance than actually hurt.

You could sense that the end was near and in round six a counter hook put Fortuna down a third time. Fortuna spit out the mouthpiece and that’s as clear a sign of surrender as you can get. Fight over.

Garcia did what he had to do against a heavy underdog and was impressive in the process, but at this stage of his career it’s obvious that he needs a truly big fight against one of the division’s elite to really test just how great he is. In the post-fight interview with DAZN’s Chris Mannix, ‘KingRy’ called out WBA “regular” champion Gervonta Davis (27-0, 25 KOs) for his next fight. Davis is supposedly a contractual free agent after his deal with Mayweather Promotions ended with his recent KO of Rolando Romero in May. We’ll see if this fight does get made and if it does it would be a massive bout both for relevance and money. Garcia’s reported purse for this Fortuna fight was $2 million, so a Davis fight would presumably net him a monster payday… whether it’s at 135 or 140, of which Garcia seems comfortable just staying at the latter weight class for the time being.

Undercard Results

Alexis Rocha def. Luis Veron by unanimous decision (99-91, 100-90, 100-90)

Lamont Roach Jr. def. Angel Rodriguez by unanimous decision (116-112, 116-112, 117-111)

David Jimenez def. Ricardo Sandoval by majority decision (113-113, 114-112, 114-112)

Oscar Collazo def. Victorio Saludar by unanimous decision (116-112, 116-112, 118-110)

Diego De La Hoya def. Enrique Bernache by TKO at 2:51 of Round 4

Miguel Gaona def. Abdiel Padilla by KO at 1:20 of Round 1