Ryan Garcia has the fame, but can he win a boxing world title? - ESPN

AT 27 YEARS old, Ryan Garcia has two of the three things most fighters his age would do almost anything to have: money and power.

With over 12.5 million followers on Instagram, he's one of the most popular American boxers on the platform, behind Jake Paul (28.8 million), Floyd Mayweather (29.2 million) and Mike Tyson (33.9 million). Garcia has proved to be box-office gold as his 2023 knockout loss to Gervonta «Tank» Davis generated the sixth-largest gate for a U.S. boxing match at $22.8 million and reportedly generated more than 1.2 million pay-per-view buys.

His celebrity status has translated into a financial windfall of opportunities, ranging from lucrative sponsorships to runway modeling. Still, the one thing that has eluded him in his 10-year professional career is a world championship.

And with that, the third thing Garcia still fights for today is respect.

«I'm a little different and did things backward in my career,» Garcia told ESPN ahead of Saturday's fight with WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios. «I'm now planning to grab as many world titles as I possibly can to complete the picture of my entire career. This is the last piece of that puzzle. A world champion means you are the best in the world, and being the best in the world is what God originally set me out to accomplish.»

There was a time when Garcia suggested that he would retire from boxing by age 26 to pursue other endeavors, but he has since realized that rushing to the finish line didn't allow him to develop as a boxer. He needed to slow down, refocus on the sport he loves and take his time to properly prepare to seize opportunities with his father reclaiming the role as his lead trainer.

«I thought I could speedrun through boxing and get