Ryan Garcia lays out plans to retire from boxing, move to MMA

WBC interim lightweight champion Ryan Garcia has plans to hang up his boxing gloves and try his hand at mixed martial arts in the future.

Garcia, 22, is currently riding an impressive knockout win over Luke Campbell, and has been chomping at the bit for a fight with Floyd Mayweather protege Gervonta Davis. Beyond that, the young star could find himself in fights with the likes of Teofimo Lopez, Devin Haney, and Vasily Lomachenko.

Despite the huge fights on the horizon, Garcia recently revealed that he plans to retire from boxing at 26, then transition into MMA for new challenges.

“Yeah, I plan to. If I say it, I plan to do it,” Garcia told Rich Eisen recently (via MMA Fighting). “I plan at 26 to retire, I don’t know, officially. You’ve seen in the past, fighters have retired and come back. This is what I will say: I still plan to retire at 26, yet, yet if I am to return back to the ring, I will only battle people that people will say at that time ‘There’s no way Ryan will beat them.’ That’s the only time I’m coming back and I will always give the glory to God after I win. That’s what I plan to do. All I box for is to give the glory to God, so once I win I say thank you Lord, Jesus Christ is coming, there it is. That’s my plan.

“To answer your question, 26, I still plan to retire,” Garcia added “But if I do return back in the ring, I will promise everybody that I will fight people that they say I won’t beat. You know what I’m willing to do? I really haven’t said this out loud but what I plan to do is, say at 26 I’m done retired and boxing is all good. You know what I’ll do?

“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,” Garcia continued. “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 beat whoever in MMA that they say I won’t beat. 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.”

While this is the first time Ryan Garcia has laid out plans to compete in MMA, he has previously jawed back-and-forth with former UFC bantamweight and flyweight champ Henry Cejudo.

How do you think he’d do in mixed martial arts?