Райан Гарсиа энэ амралтын өдөр болох тулаанд WBC-ийн аваргын бүсээ Конор Беннийн эсрэг хамгаална.
Райан Гарсиагийн зүүн гарын хук цохилт нь мэргэжлийн боксын спортын хамгийн хүчирхэг зэвсгүүдийн нэгд тооцогддог. Дасгалжуулагч Фредди Роуч энэ цохилтын гол нууц нь зай, хурд, цаг хугацааны нарийн тооцоололд оршдог гэж үздэг. Тэрээр энэхүү ур чадварыг төгс болгохын тулд спарринг тулааны үеэр бодит нөхцөлд дасгалжуулах нь хамгийн үр дүнтэй гэдгийг онцолжээ.
Гарсиагийн хувьд энэхүү цохилт нь түүний биеийн өндөр болон урт гарын далайцтай хослон илүү үр дүнтэй болдог. Тэрээр эгц зогсолттой үндсэн байрлалаас арагш шилжүүлсэн жингээ урагш огцом түлхэж, ташаагаа эргүүлснээр хүчтэй цохилтыг гүйцэтгэдэг. Энэхүү техник нь Люк Кэмпбеллийг ялахад чухал үүрэг гүйцэтгэсэн ч Жервонта Дэвистэй хийсэн тулаанд тэрээр хэт улайрснаас болж сөрөг цохилтод өртөж байсан удаатай.
Дэвин Хэйнигийн эсрэг хийсэн тулаанд Гарсиа зүүн хук цохилтоороо өрсөлдөгчөө гурван удаа нокдаунд оруулсан нь түүнийг энэ төрлийн цохилтод ямар өндөр ур чадвартайг харуулсан юм. Гэвч тус тулааны дараа Гарсиа жингийн үзүүлэлтээ хангахгүй байсан болон допингийн шинжилгээнд бүдэрснээс үүдэн нэг жилийн хугацаатай эрхээ хасуулсан билээ. Өрсөлдөгч Конор Бенн энэ амралтын өдөр Лас Вегаст болох тулаанд Гарсиагийн энэхүү аюултай зэвсгийг хэрхэн саармагжуулах нь ялалтыг шийдвэрлэх гол хүчин зүйл болно.
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The crack when the punch landed sounded like a whip, splitting the air and bringing gasps from the crowd inside a ballroom at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Miguel Carrizoza had just stood up after being floored by a right hook and still looked unsteady on his feet. The clock had not even reached 30 seconds of the opening round, but then it came. The Ryan Garcia left hook.
Crack.
Carrizoza would not beat the count the second time.
Garcia had been building his reputation as a feisty puncher down at super featherweight. But it was this moment, delivered on the eve of a huge clash between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin in Las Vegas in September 2017, that sealed his status as a potential star.
And while some of boxing’s greats have had superb lead hooks — think Joe Frazier, Mike Tyson, Oscar De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao, Sugar Ray Robinson, Roy Jones Jr and Roberto Duran, to name just a few — Garcia’s is up there with the best of them.
The Athletic examines what makes this type of punch special and why Garcia, who defends his WBC welterweight title against Conor Benn this weekend, is equipped with one of the most potent weapons in the sport.
The lead hook has long been a great weapon in a fighter’s arsenal, whether it be a left hook from an orthodox fighter or a right from a southpaw.
“The left hook is short but sweet,” Freddie Roach, the Hall of Fame trainer, tells The Athletic. “The beauty of it is in its simplicity. A left hook is the closest punch thrown to the chin or jaw.
“The shorter the distance, the more powerful the punch. If it’s thrown correctly, using the proper combination of speed, power, and distance, the fighter getting clipped will never know it’s coming until it’s too late.”
Roach has trained a few boxers with great lead hooks. Miguel Cotto and Pacquiao, who had a fearsome lead hook from the southpaw stance, are two of them. Like any skill, it can be worked on.
“I had to work on it to perfect it with Manny and with Miguel,” said Roach. “Besides being great talents, both were excellent students who were eager to learn and improve. They were two of the hardest workers I ever trained.
“To perfect the hook, I prioritised sparring because the boxer is working under fight-night conditions. Of course, the lesson is taught by hitting the pads repeatedly so that it becomes automatic and effective, but it’s during sparring where I can observe if he is throwing it correctly and I can make the corrections in real time.
“Then, right after the sparring is done, we can work on improvements, one-on-one, in the ring while everything is still fresh.”
Roach believes the perfect lead hook comes down to the timing.
“It’s all in the execution,” he adds. “You need to find the right distance, maybe four inches, the timing has to be precise, and then throw (the punch) as quickly as possible to take advantage of catching him by surprise before he can see it coming over his hands.”
There are variations of lead hooks, and while Garcia’s left hook is not perfect, it is certainly explosive and devastatingly effective.
Frazier was brilliant at throwing it from what would seem the soles of his boots. The American heavyweight would dip down as he weaved out of the way of punches and throw the hook as he rose, with the full force coming up from his legs.
Robinson delivered his from a straight-up stance, producing something sharp and with less body movement. Floyd Mayweather Jr had a superb ‘check hook’ with his left. The one he landed on Ricky Hatton in their December 2007 meeting was picture-perfect.
Garcia strikes Javier Fortuna in their July 2022 bout (John McCoy/Getty Images)
Garcia’s comes from standing up straight in his orthodox stance but is driven by his back leg, which propels him forward.
From there, it is the twisting of the hips and the swivel on the front leg that generates the torque for the 28-year-old American to detonate an explosive shot.
The speed of the hook is what catches out his opponents. Sometimes it comes with the slightest of jumps forward, which can surprise them and cause them to pull back, leaving their chin exposed for the hook to land. Other times, his feet are more planted but the hook’s power is generated from the arc of the punch being wider. A perfect example of that is his first-round knockout of Francisco Fonseca in February 2020.
“Garcia’s got natural attributes for boxing,” Olympic gold medallist Luke Campbell tells The Athletic. “He’s got the fast-twitch fibres; his timing and his speed is really good.”
Campbell knows about Garcia’s threat because he fell victim to it. The British southpaw fighter faced the Californian in 2021 for the ‘interim’ WBC lightweight title in Texas, flooring him in the second round with a blistering left hand. But Garcia’s left hook hurt Campbell at the end of the fifth and swung the bout in his favour.
“It is a weapon but it’s not just his lead hook: he has pop in both hands, so you have to be wary of both,” said Campbell. “He’s dangerous if he’s going to throw with you, so a lot of fighters will throw when you throw. Now Ryan’s got that ability with his speed and his timing that if he’s going to stand there and throw with you at the same time, he’s in a good place that he’s going to land his shot before you land yours.
“The lead hook is so good because he closes the distance so quickly, too.”
Garcia’s size allows him to do that. Having come from super featherweight through lightweight, light welterweight, and now welterweight, he has often been the bigger man at 5ft 8½in (174cm), with a reach of 70in.
Garcia lands a left hook on Devin Haney in April 2024 (Al Bello/Getty Images)
He can also go to the body superbly with the left hook, as Campbell found out. He could not beat the count when Garcia sapped the air out of his lungs with a devastating hook to the midriff in the seventh round of their meeting.
Again, while many dip to their left before throwing a hook to the body, the American stands tall and finds the angle with his long reach. Campbell’s reaction was delayed before he dropped to his knee.
Garcia’s left hook does bring vulnerabilities. Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis exploited them in their April 2023 meeting, blocking a couple of early left hooks in the Las Vegas fight and waiting for his opportunity.
In the second round, Garcia overcommitted with the left hook and a counter left from Davis sent him over. Garcia bounced back up but was eventually stopped in the seventh by Davis.
In his only other career defeat in 28 fights, Garcia couldn’t time the left hook against Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero and put in a lacklustre performance that saw him come up short on points.
The open-air bout, bizarrely staged in Times Square, New York, saw him again launch a big left hook in the second round. But when it was blocked, he stood for too long in range and got countered with the same punch that sent him down.
His performance against amateur rival Devin Haney in April 2024 should have been the standout of his career. Early on, Garcia hurt Haney, who was a big favourite before the bout, with a left hook that set the tone. He later floored his opponent three times. All three were caused by the same shot, which former fighter and DAZN analyst Sergio Mora said on the live TV broadcast was “lethal”.
“He may be a one-trick pony,” Mora added. “But that trick is enough.”
Yet his victory over Haney is now recorded as a ‘no contest’ after Garcia first came in overweight, which meant Haney’s light-welterweight title wasn’t on the line, and then failed two separate drug tests for ostarine, a banned substance. Garcia was given a one-year ban but has always denied doping, blaming the positive test on contaminated supplements.
If Benn is to pull off an upset this weekend in Las Vegas, then he has to find a way to nullify Garcia’s left hook.
The combination of speed, power and precision makes it a brilliant weapon. Benn will know it is coming. His chance of success depends on whether he can get out of the way of it before it finds him.
