Ryan Garcia has called for a fight with Terence Crawford, questioning the modern great’s retirement from boxing in a fierce tirade.
On Saturday, Garcia stopped Conor Benn in two rounds in Las Vegas, retaining the WBC welterweight title in the process, as Crawford watched on from ringside.
Garcia’s win came exactly one year after Crawford outpointed Canelo Alvarez to become undisputed super-middleweight champion – in the same city, also on Mexican Independence Weekend.
Three months after beating Mexico’s Canelo, Crawford announced his retirement, leaving boxing with an undefeated record and as the only three-weight undisputed king in the four-belt era.
“I want to avenge Canelo’s loss,” Garcia told Uncrowned on Monday. “I just want to beat [Crawford’s] ass, to be real. I want that. He knows that I want that. I’m willing to test him, to see where he’s at, you know, but will he come back out of retirement? I don’t know.
“He knows he has to. Nobody knows who the f*** he is. He has to come back to boxing. He knows that, though. You can see that. The security didn’t even know who the f*** he was [on Saturday]; that’s a problem…
“You know you’ve got more on the plate. What are you doing? You retired for what? I know what he’s doing. Like, he knows he didn’t do everything he needed to do in the sport yet…
“He’s not really retired in his heart. He retired on paper, but not in his heart.”
Despite the criticisms from Garcia, who also labelled Crawford “jealous”, the latter’s accomplishments are among the greatest in boxing history. As well as the afore-mentioned accolades, the American collected world titles at five weights overall before retiring aged 38.
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Mexican-American Garcia was making his first defence of a world title when he handed Benn the first stoppage loss of his career.
Garcia, 28, won the WBC welterweight belt in February by dropping and outpointing Mario Barrios, nine months after losing to Rolly Romero in a WBA title fight, in which Garcia was floored and lost via decision.
Garcia’s previous bout was against Devin Haney, but the latter’s WBC super-lightweight title was not on the line as Garcia missed weight. He dropped Haney three times and won on points, only for the result to be overturned to a no-contest after it was revealed that “King Ryan” had failed a drug test.
Garcia proclaimed his innocence but was banned for a year before returning against Romero, who lost the WBA belt to Teofimo Lopez this August. On Saturday, Lopez tried to enter the ring to face off with Garcia.
Benn, 29, previously navigated his own drug-test controversy, failing two drug tests in 2022. He was subsequently provisionally suspended from boxing in the UK until late 2024, when he was cleared to do so again. The Briton maintained his innocence throughout the saga.
