Via Jeff Aaron: Coach Joe Goosen has been admiring lightweight contender Ryan Garcia’s punching prowess ever since he took over as his new coach recently.
Goosen says that 23-year-old Ryan’s strength is comparable to that of the late former two-division world champion Diego Corrales, who trained with him.
Corrales (40-5, 33 KOs) is known for its exciting fights in the early 2000s against Jose Luis Castillo, Joel Casamayor, and Acelino Freitas. For Goosen to be compared Ryan’s strength to Corrales’ is a huge compliment.
The point where Ryan doesn’t match Corrales is in his right hand power. Corrales has a great right arm and a much better inner boxer than Ryan has shown in his short career.
Corrales is a much busier boxer than Ryan when he was in his early 20s. Instead of fighting once a year like Ryan, Corrales would fight three to four times a year, mixing it with the best. You didn’t see him fight against obscure opponents as he entered his early 20s.
Ryan (21-0, 18 KOs) will fight next month with the little known Emmanuel Tagoe (32-1, 15 KOs) in a DAZN headline on April 9 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
This is Ryan’s first fight in fifteen months since he won Luke Campbell in January 2021.
“I also had a great lightweight champion, Rafael Ruelas [53-4, 41 KOs]and Corrales, who has a 90% kill rate,” Joe Goosen told Sports artist KO. “Ryan is the one who takes down a punch [artist]; he may make you unconscious.
“Diego can do it too and Rafael often does, but usually Rafael will help you overcome the fatigue. He’s going to hit you a lot of punches, and he’s got the power, don’t get me wrong,” Goosen said.
Corrales is said to be a lot more rugged than what Ryan Garcia has shown. Check out the footage Corrales has taken in his fight against elite warriors like Freitas, Castillo and Casamayor. It’s hard to imagine Ryan doing the same punches over and over again.
We’ve seen Luke Campbell fold Ryan like a simple left-handed deck of cards. That punch won’t shake Corrales as he can take much harder hits from A-rank fighters. Campbell isn’t an elite guy.
“He had a great liver shot; he stopped a lot of guys with gut shots like Ryan did with [Luke] Campbell,” Goosen said.
“Corrales, he can stun you with a single punch, as we’ve seen, even late in a fight when he’s injured. But most of the time, Diego was chasing people around the ring, trying to get them to stop running away from him.
“So in the end he has a little more difficulty getting to you, but once he gets to you and hits you with that left hook, that left hook is the same as Ryan’s.
“It was brutal, brutal. You are unaffected by that and then go, ‘I feel good.’ You’re affected by that, and you don’t know what time it is,” Goosen said.
Corrales’ first fight with Castillo was a fight for the ages, with both men wounded but continuing to bomb.
“But Ryan can really knock you out with one punch,” Goosen says. “We’ve seen him do it; He’s so good, he’s so strong. So don’t let the matinee idol fool you.
“Inside, he really is an amazingly brutal puncher and unsurpassed athleticism. He has it all. I love coaching him, I love being here, and the time goes by so fast.
“We’re on our way to Texas pretty soon and I can’t wait to see him perform,” Goosen said of his first fight as Ryan Garcia’s new coach coming on the 9th. April.
