Ryan “Kingry” Garcia’s issues with management won’t keep him out of the ring for long. The 20-year-old will return to the DAZN airwaves on September 14th against Philadelphia prospect Avery Sparrow. Zona ESPN’s Fernando Barbosa revealed the matchup earlier this week, while The Athletic confirmed today that it would “likely” take place in Carson, California.
The original plan was to pit Garcia against Filipino slugger Romero Duno, but Garcia (18-0, 15 KO) turned Duno down, claiming that he wanted to fight him “as [a] main event in November.” Sparrow (10-1, 3 KO) is by no means a bad replacement, though, a strong young fighter whose only career blemishes are a DQ due to low blows in a fight he was dominating and a win-turned-NC due to marijuana. He returned from that drug suspension in March with a decision over fellow Philly product Hank Lundy.
Here’s Avery’s entire fight with Lundy, courtesy of DAZN’s official YouTube page.
That weekend has become absolutely stuffed with fights; Devin Haney headlines a stacked DAZN card the previous day, while Saturday features this, Tyson Fury vs. Otto Wallin, and Sunny Edwards at York Hall.