Keith Thurman Questions Ryan Garcia’s Punching Power

Talking to FightHub TV, Thurman argued that Garcia did not have the punch power to knock down major players in the welterweight division.

“You consider him (Garcia) as a welterweight puncher? You think Ryan has got a bigger punch than Ennis had?” he said. “ He drops lightweights; he hasn’t fought real welterweights. Is there even a real welterweight in the welterweight division? I think that Conor Benn is the only real welterweight left at 147lbs. This new welterweight game is lightweights moving up.”

While Thurman’s words might carry some weight, one cannot forget that Garcia is widely considered a very fast and sharp puncher, especially when he dishes out punishment with his left hand. At lightweight, his power was very noticeable, scoring several knockouts with one-shot left hooks.

However, coming to 147, with power being partly relative to weight, his knockout rate might drop a bit. A shot that can KO a lightweight may not automatically KO a welterweight.

Meanwhile, Thurman does not even think that there is an OG at 147.

“There is no O.G. 147lber at 147 and, with that, I can’t give Ryan the credit, as a puncher, that you are trying to give him,” he said. “I could eat ‘em all up like Tic-Tacs.”

“Three Is Too Much”

Another factor connecting both fighters is that they have two losses under their belts. And neither wants to even imagine a scenario of adding another loss to it. Talking at their presser, Garcia highlighted why three losses are one too many.

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“It doesn’t even sound good. Two is cool. Three is too much. Two, you can work with it and build from that. But three, it’s like, damn, you’re really losing,” he said. “I don’t want to get this third loss at all, and he doesn’t want to get it. It’s debatable that he lost his last fight, even if it was called a draw. At the end of the day, I think we don’t want to lose.”