“When have we ever seen Ryan in the ring with someone his size? So, I guess we’re looking at a boxing match,” coach Greg Hackett said. mill city boxing Regarding the match between Ryan Garcia and Mario Barrios on February 21, 2026.

Barrios’ size advantage

Going into this game, the 6’0″ Barrios will have a significant height advantage over the 5’8 1/2″ Ryan. If he chooses to use his length against Garcia to keep the offense going on the outside, it’s going to be a long night for him.

“Can he overwhelm Barrios? Yes, but where is he mentally? Ryan Garcia has been hanging out with YouTubers and streamers. He hasn’t really been training. So, what type of Ryan are we going to get?”

Training outside the gym

Ryan has been training at his Los Angeles mansion, hitting balls with one of his coaches. He didn’t go to the gym to train. His approach is to stay at home and exercise in a beautiful environment. The 27-year-old Ryan does have the left hook to knock out Barrios if he hits the button, but it still doesn’t look good for him due to his weird training regimen.

“Are we going to get a front-runner Ryan who’s going to give it his all for two or three rounds and then give it his all the rest of the way, or are we going to get a focused Ryan who’s going to be there trying to do damage? I think it’s a 50-50 fight. Ryan’s got to show a lot more than just that left hook,” Hackett said.

Romero’s lesson

Greg was referring to Ryan’s fight earlier this year against Rolando “Rolly” Romero on May 2, 2025. He was aggressive in the first two rounds but went into defensive mode after being taken down by Rowley.

Garcia looked like he had lost all fight and fought the final ten rounds in a safety-first manner. He has no confidence and no courage.

Whatever courage Kingery had going into this fight, he gave up on him after Romero knocked him down in the second round. The problem is, Raleigh doesn’t look too impressive. He’s loading a single shot that makes a sound with each throw. Garcia looked scared.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time Ryan has surrendered. We saw the same behavior from him in April 2023 against Gervonta Davis. After Ryan got knocked down in the second round, he was basically done for the night.

From that point on, Garcia hung around and let Tank have his way until he bowed out in the seventh after taking a hit to the body. As the saying goes: “Once you give up, always give up.” If Barrios can play into the form he showed against Cuban-born Yordenis Ugas in September 2023, Ryan’s chances of winning are slim.