Ryan Garcia believes he’ll be done with boxing early. He plans to retire at the age of 26. But the red-hot prospect is not saying he’ll give up all combat sport at that time.
The popular Garcia said on The Rich Eisen Show on Thursday that he will consider moving over to MMA following his boxing career. The 22-year-old said he wants to prove he’s the best fighter in the world — and not just in the ring.
“If they say, ‘OK you’ve beaten everybody in the ring’ [and] somebody goes ‘this ain’t real fighting — real fighting is legs, choking, submissions, all that,'” Garcia said. “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 it is in MMA 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 just because it’s how I feel.”
Garcia said his plan is to still leave boxing when he is 26 years old. But he wouldn’t rule out a comeback there, either.
“I still plan to retire at 26,” he said. “Yet, if I am to return back to the ring, I will only battle people that people at that time … will say Ryan can’t beat them.”
Garcia (21-0) is ESPN’s No. 4-ranked lightweight. The California native is coming off a seventh-round TKO over Luke Campbell to win the WBC interim lightweight title Jan. 2.