Ryan Garner’s long road reaches a special moment on Saturday, when he headlines at St Mary’s Stadium in Southampton for the WBC interim super featherweight title against Michael Magnesi.
For Garner and trainer-manager Wayne Batten, this has been nearly a decade in the making. Batten remembers standing at the stadium years ago with late cutman Frank Hopkins and saying that one day Garner would fight there for a world title.
“Frank Warren shook my hand and said, ‘I promise I’ll make it happen,’” Batten said. “And here we are.”
The journey was not smooth. Batten admits there were difficult periods when he wondered whether Garner would waste his talent, but he kept pushing him back toward the gym and reminding him what he had. Now, with a family, a fiancée and a career-best run behind him, Garner appears to have found the focus needed for the biggest night of his life.
Recent wins over Salvador Jimenez and Reece Bellotti have brought him to this point, with the Southampton football club helping make the stadium dream a reality.
The pressure will be heavy when Garner walks out in front of his home crowd, but Batten believes he will rise to it. Comparing him to Chris Eubank Sr., he said Garner is the type of fighter who can thrive when the stage gets bigger.
Image Credit: WBC