Ryan Garcia (L) throws punches at his opponent Emmanuel Tagoe (R) at their light weight fight. Ryan Garcia will square off against Oscar Duarte at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on December, 2. TOM HOGAN/GOLDEN BOY PROMOTIONS VIA GETTY IMAGES.
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HOUSTON — Ryan Garcia will square off against Oscar Duarte in a 12-round super lightweight boxing match at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on Saturday, December 2.
Garcia, 25, from California won’t be participating for the first time since he was initially stopped cold by Gervonta Davis in the seventh round of their April bout, which was Garcia’s first professional defeat.
The fight was fought at 136 pounds catchweight, however Garcia (23-1, 19 KOs) will now contest at 140 pounds, the weight at which he fought his two previous fights before Davis.
“Here you have a guy [Duarte] who’s coming off 11 KOs in a row,” said De Le Hoya an American boxing promoter.
“There’s a guy who’s a power puncher who’s going to come forward and make Ryan fight. It’s the proper fight after a knockout loss to Gervonta,” he added.
Garcia and De La Hoya managed to settle this bout against Duarte in order to help Garcia progress in his career, despite their differences.
“It’s business as usual,” said De La Hoya.
“We have a couple of pending issues that should not impede any type of progress moving forward. I truly feel that we’re going to get this behind us and then move on with his career,” he continued.
Garcia has an opportunity to recover from his first career defeat and gain some momentum going into a crucial 2024 against Duarte.
Oscar Duarte(26-1-1, 21 KOs), a 27-year-old Mexican who weighs 135 pounds, will go up a class for the Garcia fight.
In January 2021, Garcia defeated Olympic gold winner Luke Campbell via seventh-round TKO after surviving a knockdown. This victory still stands as his greatest of the career.
Garcia and Davis might face off again in 2024 if he bounces back strongly.
“I wanna get my rematch at the right weight,” said Garcia in media reports.
“He knows it wasn’t who I really was, I don’t really care what anyone says, I don’t fight like that. I’m way better than that, and I’m better than him. I don’t care if he beat me, I’m better than him. Give me my rematch, and I’ll beat him,” he added.
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