In his uncle Sergio’s garage in Victorville, Calif., Ryan Garcia sizes up a battered heavy bag. He dips his 5' 10", 135-pound frame toward it and rips a blurring combination into the taped-up leather.
The garage, a sparsely decorated room with cleaning supplies stuffed into a corner and a splash of white paint on the walls, is where Garcia began his journey, in 2005, when as a seven-year-old he was tossed out of the High Desert Boxing Club for lying about his age. “Had to be eight to fight,” says Garcia. “Man, that coach was pissed.”
He fires off another combination, then another—typical stuff.