Ryan Garcia is one of the fastest rising and most popular stars in boxing already. However he is planning to hang up the boxing gloves by 2025 and make the move to MMA for a big fight with Conor McGregor.
At just 22 years old, Garcia is one of the hottest prospects in boxing. He has one of the biggest Instagram followings in the sport, which has led to him earning some big shots inside the ring too.
With an 18-0 record, it seems that he has the skills to back it up as well. His most recent win against Luke Campbell saw him overcome adversity and come back to get a seventh round TKO and win the interim WBC lightweight title.
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Ryan Garcia Wants To Retire
Despite the fact that his career is still growing and developing, Ryan Garcia does not want to stick around too long. Speaking in a recent interview, the boxing prospect confirmed that he plans on retiring by the age of 26.
“I plan to, at 26 to retire, I don’t know, officially. You’ve seen in the past, fighters have retired and come back,” Garcia said.
“This is what I will say: I still plan to retire at 26, yet if I am to return back to the ring, I will only battle people that people, at that time, say ‘There’s no way Ryan will beat them.’
“That’s the only time I’m coming back and I will always give the glory to God after I win. That’s what I plan to do.
“All I box for is to give the glory to God, so once I win I say thank you Lord, Jesus Christ is coming, there it is. That’s my plan.”
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Returning For Conor McGregor
As surprising as it is that Ryan Garcia wants to retire from competition at such an early age, he is not completely ruling out a return at some point. In fact he made it clear that there are some things that could keep him fighting.
One such thing, would be a move to MMA in order to get a huge challenge. In that move, Ryan even said that he would be interested in fighting Conor McGregor inside the Octagon.
“You know what I’m willing to do, and I really haven’t said this out loud. What I plan to do is, say at 26 I’m done retired and boxing is all good,” Garcia explained.
“You know what I’ll do? If they say, ‘Okay, you’ve beaten everybody in the ring, right?’ But somebody goes, ‘This ain’t real fighting. Real fighting is legs, you know, choking, submission, all that.’
“Guess what I’ll do? I’ll go prove to them that I’m the best fighter all around in the world. I’m talking about hands, I’m talking about wrestling. I will go to MMA to prove a point that God is greatest and I’ll go beat whoever in MMA that they say I won’t beat.
“If it has to be Conor McGregor, I will. And I’m not saying this to get money. I don’t care about money. I’m saying this because that’s just how I feel.”
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In all honesty, if Ryan Garcia moves to MMA at 26 years old, he would still have the possibility to be successful. That being said, he would be pretty heavily outsized against Conor McGregor.
However Henry Cejudo has been making his case for a fight with Ryan, and they are much closer in weight. So perhaps we could see King Ryan vs The King Of Cringe in 2025.
