Ryan Garcia is looking chunky for his December 30th exhibition match against Rukia Anpo in Japan. Garcia will fight Anpo in 19 days in Tokyo in a match that will be shown on Fanmio PPV for $49.99.
In the video clip, Ryan pulled his pants up high to hide the Fury-style spare tire that wasn’t there seven months ago. Apparently he has been eating heavily since April 20th and we are seeing visible results.
Anpo’s advantage
Garcia has packed on the pounds for this fight, which could slow him down as he doesn’t look as fast as he did when he was lighter. These two-minute rounds will be quick and could work in Anp’s favor. He looks in great shape.
In a workout clip this week, Ryan (24-1, 20 KOs) has his pants pulled up high in what appears to be a move to hide his flabby stomach. It’s a move you often see middle-aged men like Tyson Fury pull up to hide their stomach. Seeing Ryan resort to this move is embarrassing.
He looks like he’s around 160 pounds, but he’s carrying an extra 20 pounds of fat from the lean fighter who defeated Oscar Duarte a year ago on December 2, 2023.
Garcia has put on weight since before his last fight against Devin Haynie on April 20th. He came in 3.2 pounds overweight at 143.2 lbs and had to pay $600,000.
The extra weight seemed to prevent Garcia from fighting hard in each round, and he took many breaks to recharge his batteries. He could get away with it against Hannay because he’s not a puncher or a pressure fighter. But if Ryan is like that against one of the busy fighters, he will be knocked out.
The extra weight Ryan, 26, has put on doesn’t look like muscle, and that could be bad for him. Anpoh, 6’0″, appears to be taking this eight-round exhibition bout seriously, and that could be a problem for the out-of-form Garcia.
We saw Anpo beat the 45-year-old Manny Pacquiao in their three-round exhibition on July 28th in Saitama, Japan. Pacquiao earned every penny he got in that bout as he took a lot of hard punches from the tough 29-year-old Anpo.
Garcia’s Future
Ryan will have to lose weight when his suspension ends in April 2025 because he can’t look like he does now. He doesn’t have the frame to fight at 154, and he may not be strong enough to campaign at 147. He can potentially do well at 147 against weaker fighters like Mario Barrios and Conor Benn, but will fall apart against Jaron Ennis and Eimantas Stanionis.
