Ryan Garcia used Lupe Fiasco’s 2007 song Superstar as his entrance music several times in his career, first against Romero Duno, then in his match against Francisco Fonseca. At that time, his relationship with singing was perhaps more superficial. Garcia was a fighter whose popularity far exceeded his achievements. He was a highly touted prospect who put up numbers comparable to established champions on television and in goal. “If you are who you say you are, a superstar, don’t worry, the audience is here,” Matthew Santos sings on the song’s hook. The 2019 and 2020 versions of Ryan Garcia were truly self-promotional fighters as his Golden Boy promos were superstars and he fought to justify the claims made to the crowd as well as himself.
Several years later, Garcia’s fame remains, but with it comes fame and notoriety, the internal conflict between a public figure and a private person that the song addresses. Garcia’s personal turmoil, both as a person and as an athlete, has been very public — family problems, relationship problems, training changes, battles with promoters, struggles with mental health. For a man whose career has been tied to social media popularity, many believed Garcia reached both his peak and low point last April when Gervonta Davis stopped him at a commercially successful pay-per-view. Garcia continued to be the subject of viral memes, but this time on the wrong end of them. Despite the fact that he (and Davis) demanded a fight that neither had to take, “dare to be great”, to use the expression du jour in boxing, losing the fight instead caused a reaction that the audience always claimed was the. an act courage would protect you from that. For many, he was not a fearless fighter willing to risk everything, he was a “surrender” who did not want to continue after the body shot, another fraudulent victory to market a proven fake under the black lights.
“They want everything they paid for back. and #039;cause they and #039;waited till ten o’clock the lights dimmed,” Fiasco raps at the end of the second verse. When Garcia returned to the ring for the first time since Davis’ loss to Oscar Duarte on Saturday, he invited Fiasco to sing his own song as he entered the ring. On the other hand, it was a bit flexible. Having a major label release on tour is a luxury reserved for the sport’s most monied fighters, and those who can safely assume their income will continue reliably for some time, otherwise it’s a foolish investment. DJ Press is free to play on Spotify. Fiasco’s performance is far from that. However, after several battles in the ring with different pieces, he returned to Superstar. Suddenly, the song had a deeper connection with Garcia than just a cheeky nod to live up to the hype. Garcia was now traversing rocky ground. Failure struck between those sticky hooks.
While Garcia was there, the Houston Rockets locker room was turned into his locker room for the night, with Fiasco in the middle of the first verse of the song. andquot;The world brought me to its knees; andquot;What did you bring? You? Have you improved the design? did you do something new? andquot; Garcia entered this battle with Derrick James, his third coach in recent years, after sharp splits with Eddy Reynoso and friend Joe Goossen. Especially known for his work with Errol Spence Jr., James has expanded his client list to welcome shy stars looking for stability and guidance, such as Anthony Joshua and now Garcia. Away from the glamor of California, Garcia moved into a small apartment in Dallas with few distractions, a modest game console and proximity to James’ gym.
At the post-fight press conference, Garcia would go on to talk about subjects with a common topic: His look for personality through mentorship, his affinity to need to stray, and finding the natural products of fidelity—to one’s guides, and to oneself. Interior the ring on Saturday, we saw those battles play out in real time. Garcia started the battle looking just like the best adaptation of himself has looked within the past. He utilized his long reach and springy legs to keep Duarte at a remove where Garcia may arrive but his rival might not, directing a carelessly forceful Duarte into his protected counter cleared out snares. Duarte demonstrated to be strong be that as it may, and retained a few shots that would have thumped out a huge rate of warriors in this weight neighborhood on the spot. By the third circular, he was beginning to discover himself on Garcia’s chest, clubbing absent on the interior.
To combat this, Garcia began improvising using an exaggerated shoulder roll where his back was sometimes almost completely turned to Duarte. This made it difficult to hit Garcia in legal areas (Duarte, perhaps through no fault of his own, quite often found a target in the back of Garcia’s head), but also robbed Garcia of his own offensive opportunities. Observers openly questioned whether this was a method taught by James or whether Garcia had tried it himself. It turned out that it was indeed the latter, as James berated Garcia in the corner while the microphones failed to pick up his dialogue. “Derrick told me never to do that. “He’s like, don’t do that shit, not always and not Mayweather,” Garcia said at the post-fight news conference. “Heand#039;ll never admit it, but he said it. I just did it. I thought let’s see if it works. It kind of worked, he couldn’t hit me for two or three shots, then I started counting. it came out and I was like, okay, come back to me.
To combat this, Garcia started ad libbing utilizing an overstated bear roll where his back was now and then nearly totally turned to Duarte. This made it troublesome to hit Garcia in lawful ranges (Duarte, maybe through no blame of his claim, very frequently found a target within the back of Garcia’s head), but too victimized Garcia of his possess hostile openings. Spectators transparently addressed whether this was a strategy instructed by James or whether Garcia had attempted it himself. It turned out that it was in fact the last mentioned, as James criticized Garcia within the corner whereas the amplifiers fizzled to choose up his dialogue. “Derrick told me never to do that. “He’s like, do not do that shit, not continuously and not Mayweather,” Garcia said at the post-fight news conference. “Heand#039;ll never concede it, but he said it. I fair did it. I thought let’s see in the event that it works. It kind of worked, he couldn’t hit me for two or three shots, at that point I begun checking. it came out and I was like, affirm, come back to me.
James realized that Garcia was losing himself and letting his gifts go to waste with an unrefined freestyle defense and let him know straight up. In previous partnerships, Garcia could ignore this type of dialogue or shrug off having to follow it. Tonight, however, he obeyed, and perhaps in that moment he realized that the man whose job it was to look after his own interests would indeed do so. Garcia went back to moving and kicking, and in the eighth round he hit Duarten in something else? Check the left hook to the temple that turned his leg to jelly. After some powerful punches, Duarte was down and the fight was stopped. “Derrick was pretty tight, he was like okay why don’t you use your legs and the head opens up. And I was like okay because I tried to stay there and choke him to try to stop his attacks and soften him up a little bit. because he was too aggressive, so I thought, let me try to hold. some steam off his punches,” Garcia said. “But then I thought he was going to keep throwing, so I start moving again and then I just started locking with my coach and yeah, he was right. That opened up the shot and he hooked.
After the fight, Garcia unknowingly drew parallels between his personal and professional struggles. As a Christian in the United States, Garcia talked about how religion helped him heal and grow as a person after years of being taught what he believes. An avid athlete, Garcia also talked about discovering new qualities in himself as well as rediscovering the positive side after years of searching for the ideal prophet. “Like Shadow and Lavelle, I fight it well, although I need a break like the blue lady who sang. Go back, whatever you did, you take it back. Heavier than the sky, damn two tons,” Fiasco spat in 2007. “If I want to be a champion, I have to go through moments, I have to go through adversity. I haven’t really had any real adversity in my entire career, except for the tank battle. But because I was committed to this. camp, it felt like a struggle to me. You know I imagine myself as a fighter and it was a good feeling to be in the ring. I’m excited to continue to develop with Derrick,” Garcia said. “I’m so grateful to God and what he’s done in my life. Even the difficult years I went through. I was lost for a long time. I took so many steps back after the COVID virus and in life as a general, as a boxer, as a person, the way I feel about people, I lost a lot of myself. I fought hard to get back to where I am now.