Ryan Garcia believes he's matured as a person and fighter: 'I feel like this is the start of my era'

CALABASAS, Calif. -- It's the tail end of training camp and Ryan Garcia is happy, vibrant and loose. 

For an enigmatic superstar with sublime athletic gifts, leading man looks and the largest social media following in the sport, the 28-year-old Garcia is no stranger to pressure, inconsistent performances and a pre-fight tabloid circus or two throughout his 10-year pro career. 

Yet, at an exact point in his career -- entering the first welterweight title defense -- when many first-time world titleholders would be overwhelmed by the pressure to prove you have staying power, Garcia (25-2, 20 KOs) is enjoying the calm after the storm of finally living up to the longheld promise he has shown since the amateurs at a time when his personal life is relatively serene.   

On Saturday, Garcia will defend his WBC title against the brash U.K. star Conor Benn (25-1, 14 KOs), the son of Hall-of-Famer Nigel Benn, in a star-studded welterweight showdown inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (8 p.m. ET, Paramount+). "King Ry," a Mexican-American sharpshooter from California's San Bernardino Valley about 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles, attempts to step firmly onto the solid ground of his absolute prime in his first shot headlining a big fight on boxing's coveted commercial holiday of Mexican Independence Day Weekend. 

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"I'm in the best shape of my life, I'm in my prime," Garcia told CBS Sports during a sitdown inside the Craft Boxing gym. "This is going to be an ass whipping bro, like bad. You will be entertained, I'm telling you. Everybody that's watching this, your hunger for violence will be satisfied. Your hunger for art will be satisfied. 

"I promise you that. You will be entertained."

It simply wouldn't be a Garcia fight without the topic of mental health being debated as part of the fight's handicapping and pre-fight analysis and, to be fair, we aren't that far removed from a 2024 crash out of epic proportions within the public eye when Garcia went from prince to pariah and back throughout a roller coaster of disturbing behavior, substance abuse and drug suspension. 

Even Garcia's comeback fight from the fallout of the chaos was epically bizarre as he was dropped and outpointed despite being a massive betting favorite in a 2025 title loss to Rolando Romero outdoors in New York's Times Square where Garcia looked like he didn't want to be there.  

"I was a little passive [against Romero] from the year-and-a-half layoff," Garcia said. "[It was] just a weird moment in my life but a lot of people like to look too much into one fight. Most of the time, I've fought really, really amazing and entertained the fans. I've got the Luke Campbell performance [when Garcia got off the canvas to score a resounding knockout in 2021] and there have been some really great moments. At the end of the day, it's one fight."

Garcia has moved on quickly from the stink of the Romero fight and isn't all that interested in litigating what went wrong. And to his credit, in a sport where (whether fair or not) you are only as good as your last performance, his last bout February was unquestionably the best of his often scrutinized career. 

Any lingering controversy of Garcia going directly from a bad title loss into another one was quickly erased by his performance and what it meant from the standpoint of his stardom to the top end of the sport. Garcia dropped and routinely battered Mario Barrios over 12 one-sided rounds to finally become a world champion. 

The performance embodied exactly why a boxer of Garcia's physical and marketing potential is allowed multiple chances to put all of the pieces together. His defense was sound, his poise was elite and, despite being known in recent years as a one-handed fighter due to his over dependence upon his lightning left hook, Garcia showcased a polished, educated and dangerous right hand for the first time as he repeatedly stung Barrios with combinations. 

Even with Barrios, a former two-division titleholder known for his toughness, owning a poor record and reputation when it comes to exceeding expectations in high-profile title bouts, Garcia looked like a dangerous and mature welterweight weapon. 

"I feel like this is the start of my era," Garcia said. "After [Michael] Jordan couldn't win that [NBA] championship and then when he finally did, he just started destroying everybody. I feel like I'm coming into myself. I feel like I finally matured as a professional athlete, matured as a person and now that I'm a champion, I have a lot more to protect and I've learned so much since before I was a champion that has built me [for] this point. So, it's going to be hard for someone to beat me."

After a lengthy stretch of cycling through big-name trainers like they were high school girlfriends, Garcia found stability against Barrios in the form of a boxing reunion with his father, Henry Garcia, who had guided his son throughout the amateurs and for the first 13 pro bouts of his career as head trainer. 

And no one was more surprised than Dad. 

"I actually got a text, I didn't even get a phone call," Henry Garcia said on the "Road To Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn" pre-fight documentary. "[The text read,] 'Hey Dad, how would you like to be my trainer right now for this championship bout?' What? 'OK, like sure,' I said. 'OK, let's do it.'" 

Garcia's father brought a combination of comfort and authority despite how criticized the decision was from the boxing public. And the impact was obvious upon the result as Garcia, who had devolved into a bit of a headhunter, worked behind his jab and showed great footwork to become much more of a boxer-puncher.     

"Well, me and my dad, we won 15 [amateur] national titles together, I made the USA team with him," Ryan Garcia said. "I also was undefeated with him as a professional. But I think all the things we learned from Eddy Reynoso, Derrick James and Joe Goossen, I think all of those things needed to happen in order to get a full package. Obviously, my dad wasn't a professional boxer so we had to learn by other trainers and I think everybody really helped me get to that championship level status and it all came together for Mario Barrios."

Despite being on good terms with his recent trainers, including James, who cornered Garcia for the three consecutive fights leading up to Barrios, Garcia said he followed a gut instinct to return to his father. The move also came at a time when Garcia's often toxic relationship with his longtime promoter, Hall-of-Fame boxer and Golden Boy founder Oscar De La Hoya, was as distant as it has ever been. 

Garcia's contract with Golden Boy expires after the Benn fight and years of squabbling, including De La Hoya throwing his support in the corner and locker room of Oscar Duarte in a vindictive way during a feud with Garcia entering the boxer's 2023 knockout win, Garcia intends to become a free agent and currently leaves his business dealings to attorney Lupe Valencia and Saudi Arabian financier Turki Alalshikh, who is co-promoter alongside Golden Boy and Dana White's Zuffa Boxing.   

White, who has feuded with De La Hoya publicly for years, has hinted at the idea that "The Golden Boy" won't be allowed to have a key role at any of the fight week press events, likely to prevent the type of trolling De La Hoya brought to the buildup of his former fighter Jaime Munguia's 2024 loss to Canelo Alvarez, the Mexican megastar whose business relationship with De La Hoya ended in a bitter divorce. 

"[We are] very cordial," Garcai said of his current relationship with De La Hoya. "Very just, 'Good to see you, have a good day.' Nothing too deep. I have no animosity towards him, I have no ill feelings but things are just business. You do what you got to do."

The only tension in Garcia's public life of late, outside of the ongoing war of words he continues to have with top fighters like Devin Haney, Shakur Stevenson and the retired Terence Crawford, has come through the buildup of Saturday's fight with Benn, although it appeared, if anything, to bring out consistent similes from Garcia as the two fighters spent much of their August kickoff press conference in New York trading insults. 

"[Benn] is just going to be loud and obnoxious and I'm probably going to be the same [during fight week]," Garcia said. "I love the entertainment factor of it. I love to entertain and to give the fans excitement. That's why I got into the game. I used to watch Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather press conferences, those were always my favorite. I just love bringing that same energy and that same passion into fight week. You are going to see me give my all."

If fight week is a chess game of one-upping each other, Garcia may have struck first on Tuesday night when he no-showed a scheduled faceoff and photo opportunity with Benn overlooking the Las Vegas strip. Garcia posted an Instagram story clowning Benn and said he was busy cutting weight, which set off a bit of concern for critics who aren't buying chatter regarding the evolution of Garcia's maturity. 

At Wednesday's media day, Garcia further explained the situation. 

"I wasn't there because I didn't want to be," Garcia said. "Look, we got a face off at the press conference, at the weigh-ins and then a final face off inside the ring with the referee before the fight. I've been doing this for so long in fight weeks and I've never had a faceoff on a Tuesday or Wednesday. I've never had to do that. I have a routine to do and it's just something I didn't want to do."

When it comes to pre-fight narratives surrounding weight, however, the majority of the build to Saturday's event has surrounded whether Benn, a 29-year-old native of England's Essex county, will leave a large part of himself on the scales at Friday's weigh-in, which might explain why Garcia is listed as high as a 4-to-1 betting favorite. 

Benn hasn't made the 147-pound welterweight limit since 2022. After a subsequent drug suspension he was ultimately exonerated from, Benn fought twice at junior middleweight before splitting a pair of 2025 blockbuster bouts at middleweight against family rival Chris Eubank Jr. inside outdoor soccer stadiums in London. 

In April, Benn cut down to a 149-pound catchweight for a decision win over faded former junior welterweight titleholder Regis Prograis but was criticized for looking lethargic and taking too many clean punches. 

Benn confirmed at media day this week that he's on pace to make weight despite suffering through "over 15 weeks of hell" ahead of what he calls his final fight at welterweight.

"I feel like that serves a bit of distraction in myself," Garcia said about constant questions surrounding Benn's weight cut. "It can subconsciously lower your guard so I kind of don't try to put too much into it. But the thing is, I didn't try to put a rehydration clause on him so he can weigh [on fight night] whatever he wants. I don't really care how big he is, his ass is getting beat up anyways. He's too slow, not good enough, so it doesn't really matter."

Garcia, who has predicted a knockout of Benn inside five rounds, said he's preparing himself for a gauntlet through the top names in the division should he defeat Benn, which include a unification next against WBA titleholder Teofimo Lopez Jr., a possible rematch with Romero (who lost his title to Lopez in August) and an inevitable second meeting with Haney, the WBO titleholder, whom Garcia dropped three times in their 2024 meeting that was changed from a decision win for Garcia to a no contest following his failed drug test. 

If Garcia enters the fight with his emotions in check and his focus where it was for Barrios, most believe the Benn matchup is an exciting fight that he should win, weight issues or not. But it simply feels too early to assume words like consistency and Garcia belong in the same sentence until he can perform at the best of his capabilities for consecutive fights against top opponents. 

The good news for Garcia, with the supportive influence of his father in his corner, is that he looks fit, driven and balanced -- as much as an emotional, charismatic personality like Garcia can actually be -- as he prepares to defend his title for the first time as champion. 

From Garcia's perspective, all it will take is one big and explosively fast left hook. 

"[Benn] is going to sleep," Garcia said. "There are no ands, ifs or butts. Once he gets hit and it rocks him, I'm taking him out. I'm not that type of boxer. If I smell blood, I will go get it."