How Boxing Phenom Ryan Garcia Is Using Social Media Stardom to His Advantage

Ryan Garcia possesses everything the power brokers in boxing seem to crave right now in one dazzling 135-pound package, and defeating former world title challenger Luke Campbell on DAZN this Saturday night would set the brash young lightweight contender on a sure path toward superstardom.

"I want to push this as far as I can so one day kids will look up to me and say, 'Man, I want to reach what Ryan Garcia did,'" Garcia told Bleacher Report. "That's what I look at when I think of Muhammad Ali. I say, 'Man, I wanna reach to where he got.'"

So it should come as no surprise that Garcia would have even bigger and better plans in mind for next year, assuming he gets past Campbell on January 2 at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.

Garcia plans to use all his impressive powers as one of the most popular fighters in the sport to set up a superfight against fellow rising phenom Gervonta "Tank" Davis next.

"My goal is to defeat Gervonta Davis next. I'll have a message for him after my fight," Garcia said.

The stakes are incredibly high as the 22-year-old Garcia seeks to defeat the 33-year-old former Olympic gold medalist Campbell in what has to be considered the biggest fight of the rising young star's career.

"I'm going to shock the world and knock Campbell out," Garcia said.

But maybe the best part about the whole thing is that Garcia wants to face all the other brilliant young stars fighting in and around boxing's 135-pound lightweight division, and he wants to do it as soon as possible.

Undisputed lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez, secondary WBC belt holder Devin Haney, former unified champion Vasyl Lomachenko: you name them, Garcia wants to fight them.

"Davis will be in his prime, and I plan on beating him and somebody else next in their prime right after that," Garcia said.

But other than "Tank," you'll have to be the one to say their names because Garcia refuses.

"I ain't going to name their names because they never mention mine. They're just envious," Garcia said.

Garcia believes those guys are jealous of his huge following on social media. According to DAZN's Chris Mannix, they absolutely should be.

"That big Instagram following means he can make it happen," Mannix said. "If he beats Luke Campbell, he's now a power broker in that division. He can get anyone to fight anywhere at any time."

So that same massive amount of interest Garcia already has firmly entrenched behind him is something he and others believe will help him  secure the important fights he craves, and it will do it so much sooner than boxing's more customary approach of later or even never.

"That's the beautiful thing about social media. The power is in my hands. I can make these fights happen because I have the push to do it," Garcia said.

But why rush into those kinds of scraps so early in his career? Garcia said it's all part of his plans for world domination.

"That's what I want to do. I want to beat all those fighters, and I know I can. I want to go down as the greatest fighter of all time," Garcia said.

Indeed, Garcia could be the boxing superstar of a new era.

To put Garcia's massive social media audience in a little perspective, his 7.8 million followers on Instagram is over 40 percent higher than the 5.5 million followers UFC superstar Jon Jones has accumulated on the same platform.

Keep in mind that Jones, 33, has already put a decade or so behind him in which he's proved to be perhaps the best and most decorated MMA fighter in history.

Moreover, Garcia has a couple hundred thousand more followers than boxing superstar and stablemate Saul "Canelo" Alvarez.

The 30-year-old Mexican might be one of the most recognizable figures in the sport, but Garcia's reach goes past even his impressive might.

"He transcends it all right now," Mannix said.

Garcia has the potential to garner an even larger following someday soon, something perhaps even similar to the likes of Floyd Mayweather's 24.4 million followers on Instagram or Conor McGregor's 38.0 million.

And unlike other social media superstars making waves in the world of professional boxing right now, Garcia would be a legit threat in the sport whether he had been able to garner all those likes and follows or not.

According to Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times, Garcia's amateur career included winning 15 national championships while amassing a sterling 215-15 overall record.

So compare them all you want, but Garcia is nothing like novice professional boxers Logan and Jake Paul.

In fact, Garcia pointed out that unlike the Paul brothers, or any other social media stars suddenly interested in boxing, all of Garcia's social media channels have always been entirely dedicated to one thing.

"I put my whole heart into boxing. If you look at my social media, everything is involved with boxing. I became big because I posted about boxing," Garcia said.

So Garcia is positioned to become quite the attraction so long as he can keep winning fights.

Mannix believes Garcia might even become boxing's next big thing.

"How many crossover stars have there been during this century? There was Oscar De La Hoya. There's Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. But even with Floyd and Manny, you didn't see them make the rounds on the talk-show circuit and be true crossover stars. Ryan is that guy," Mannix said.

Nothing's guaranteed of course, but the sky's the limit for Garcia.

"I think he can be the most high-profile boxer since De La Hoya," Mannix said.

Garcia doesn't disagree. If anything, the fighter wholeheartedly believes his current and future opponents might have an inkling of his future and that it's what ultimately leads them to look past his legit talent and skills.

"They don't understand, but they're going to understand when they hop in the ring with me that because they're blinded by the envy, they're going to run into a problem. That's what's going to happen to Luke Campbell," Garcia said.

Campbell recently spoke about Garcia's following with ESPN's Nick Parkinson:

"When you have that amount of followers, you have to keep them interested with stuff, videos. For me, I prefer to just live my life. I've not followed his career. I've had no reason to.

"It all looks good on video, but there's plenty of kids out there who can hit the pads quickly -- but not look good in the ring. You can throw 1,000 uppercuts in 5 seconds on the pads. But it's not real. There's no one in front of you trying to take your head [off], just someone holding the pads."

Indeed, if Campbell believes Garcia won't be a threat because of his popularity, that's sure to become a recipe for disaster.

"I know the talent I have. The only chance he would have is if I wouldn't work hard. What sucks for him is that all the hate and envy from him has pushed me even harder than I would've pushed," Garcia said.

Garcia appears to be one of the best young fighters in boxing today. He's recorded knockouts in each of his last four fights, and the last two of them came in the first round.

Additionally, he's trained by Eddy Reynoso, who helped guide boxing's current pound-for-pound king, Alvarez, into the superstar he's become today.

Garcia even has the added benefit of having attentive parents who truly seem to have their son's best interests in mind with every move.

Ryan's father, Henry, had the courage and foresight to allow his son to learn from the likes of Team Canelo before even a hint of trouble came his way. His mother, Lisa, is also heavily involved in their son's career.

So Garcia has just about everything going his way right now.

The next step toward setting up showdowns against boxing's best and most popular fighters around the lightweight division is to win big this weekend against Campbell.

Of course, that will be easier said than done. Campbell is the best and most skilled fighter Garcia will face as a professional, and he's likely to deliver his best effort in what most people see as a crossroads fight.

Garcia wouldn't have it any other way.

"I want to inspire the world. I can't do that beating people that people already know I can beat," Garcia said.

Kelsey McCarson covers boxing and MMA for Bleacher Report and Heavy. Watch "Real Talk with Kelsey and Rachel" on YouTube.