Ryan Garcia: Lomachenko and Haney are the top lightweights, Teofimo isn’t that good

He is an Instagram whiz kid, with 3.3 million followers tucked into his belt, and 21-year-old Ryan Garcia is grinding hard to get to that place where inside the 135-pound weight class, he enjoys that same heft.

Don’t get us wrong, he is already a buzzed-about entertainer, but even he will admit there is still work to be done, craft to hone — which brings us to his next task at hand.

The Cali-based boxer, trained by Eddy Reynoso, who also tutors Canelo Alvarez, will fight Philly fighter Avery Sparrow, a 10-1 pugilist, on a DAZN show topped by a Jaime Munguia vs Patrick Allotey tango, at Dignity Health Sports Park.

Now 18-0 (15 KO), Garcia shared what he thinks of Sparrow, and gave up some deets on where he thinks his career goes in the near term.

“He’s from the town of Philadelphia, he’s a fast, flashy fighter, or so he tries to be, and he talks a lot. But he’s a joke, I’m just ready to shut him up come Saturday.”

Hmm, sounds like bad blood is present. Garcia said that Sparrow has talked himself up too much, and presents his record as being worse than it suggests, outwardly. He also intimated that Sparrow overstepped his bounds with his trash talk, and sounded like he wanted to punish him for that.

Garcia also said he wants to get a title before he moves to 140.

“I’m making weight pretty easy,” he said. “I do have the potential to build up and move up in weight, so I’m pretty happy about that.”

The fighter said that he’s been pleased to learn defense under Reynoso, and he now knows how hard he has to work to get to that place where he’s a 10- and 12-round fighter. Also, yes, he has learned from watching Canelo, and soaked up lessons from that future Hall of Famer about work ethic, but Garcia made clear he is now amped to make his own legacy grow.

To that end, at 135 — Loma is there, and Richard Commey has a crown, Teofimo is on the come up. What does Garcia see in that lot?

“I think the best ones at 135 are Devin Haney and Lomachenko, those are the best ones in my eyes. I don’t really see Teofimo all that good, and I don’t really see Commey all that good.

“I do see myself ready to take on those type of fights, I’m already 21, I’m ready to do it now,” the Golden Boy boxer said. “After this fight I plan on taking on all those contenders, and making sure I put myself into those talks!”