Ryan Garcia plans to retire at 26, ponders transition to MMA

WBC interim bantamweight champion Ryan Garcia seemingly has his future figured out at 22 years old.

A social media star and one of boxing’s brightest up and coming fighter, Garcia revealed that he actually plans to retire at 26.

“I plan to at 26, to retire. I don’t know officially, right? I mean you’ve seen in the past fighters have retired, came back,” Garcia told in an interview with “The Rich Eisen Show.”

“This is what I will say, I still plan to retire at 26, yet, if I am to return back to the ring I will only battle people that people at that time say there’s no way Ryan would beat him. That's the only way I’m coming back.”

The unbeaten Garcia (21-0, 18KOs) is coming off a seventh-round technical knockout victory against his toughest opponent to date in Luke Campbell last January.

WBC lightweight interim champ @KingRyanG has said he wants to retire by 26 but told us if he does keep fighting it'll be in the octagon... really.

LISTEN:#UFC @danawhite @oscardelahoya @canelo @ufc #boxing pic.twitter.com/tqIOqAexp6

— Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) January 14, 2021

And should he live up to the hype and accomplish everything that has to be accomplished in boxing, Garcia revealed that he is willing to give mixed martial arts a go.

“If they say, ‘Okay, you’ve beaten everybody in the ring, right?’ But somebody goes, ‘This ain’t real fighting. Real fighting is legs, choking, submission, all that.’ Guess what I’ll do? I’ll go prove to them that I’m the best fighter all around in the world,” he said.

“I’m talking about hands, I’m talking about wrestling. I will go to MMA to prove a point that God is greatest and I’ll go beat whoever it is in MMA they say I won’t beat.”

While it remains to be seen if any of his plans would actually come to fruition, Garcia is bent that he would be out to fight the best in MMA if and when he crosses over to that sport.

“If it has to be Conor McGregor, I will. And I’m not saying this to get money. I don’t care about money. I’m saying this because that’s just how I feel.” – JM Siasat/RC, GMA News