Super featherweight Ryan Garcia was named ESPN prospect of the year. Initially Garcia planned to build his sports career in baseball.
"I could have been the next Babe Ruth," Garcia said. "No doubt about it. I was a prodigy and then I realized that baseball was a team sport. They handed me a fourth-place trophy and I was pissed because we were fourth and my teammates let me down."
He was about 7 at the time and decided he would be better in an individual sport.
"I wanted a sport I could do on my own," Garcia said. "My uncle [former amateur fighter Sergio Garcia] showed me a picture of a championship belt. When I looked at it I said, 'I want that.' I asked my uncle, 'How do I get that?' He said I'd have to box. I said, 'What's that?' I had no idea what boxing was. He said I had to fight.
"He brought out some gloves in the garage and showed me how to jab. Mine had snap to it. I did it again and again. I fell in love with it I've been boxing ever since."
Garcia (13-0, 12 KOs), 19, of Victorville, California, went on to have a tremendous amateur career. He was 215-15 and won 15 national titles, including the 2016 youth world championships. He claimed a silver medal at the 2014 junior world championships, won National Police Athletic League championships from 2008 to 2016 and was a four-time National Silver Gloves champion (2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013) in addition to winning junior Golden Gloves titles in 2009 and 2012.
He hoped to fight in the 2016 Olympics but wasn't old enough, and since amateur rules dropped headgear requirements, Garcia figured if he was going to get hit in the head without protection he might as well get paid for it. So he turned pro in June 2016 and had his first four bouts in Mexico as a 17-year-old because he wasn't old enough to box professionally in the United States.
In November 2016, when Garcia was 6-0, he signed with Golden Boy Promotions, and CEO Oscar De La Hoya viewed the signing as the company's most important since singing a young Canelo Alvarez in 2010.
"Ryan Garcia is special, simple as that. His amateur pedigree is among the best I've ever seen. His skill set is far beyond his 18 years," De La Hoya said at the time.
Nothing has changed his mind, as Garcia, who has a very good left hook, excellent skills and charisma that could make him a star, has continued his ascent, going 6-0 (all knockouts) in 2017 and earning ESPN.com prospect of the year honors.
Garcia, who has sparred with and held his own against world champions Vasiliy Lomachenko and Jorge Linares -- both of whom offered compliments for the work he gave them -- has yet to fight a recognizable opponent, but he's been facing fighters with winning records and looked sharp, including a 30-second obliteration of Miguel Carrizoza (10-2 at the time) in September in Las Vegas on ESPN the night before Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin.
"He can fight. He's got all the ability in the world," Golden Boy president Eric Gomez said. "He has hand speed, power, quickness, all the things you look for in a prospect. He just needs the experience and to be battle-tested."
Gomez said he'll get that in 2018 starting with another ESPN appearance in February or March.
"He will face a bigger name, some sort of veteran or ex-champion," Gomez said. "He's ready for those kinds of guys, but at the same time we're not going to rush him. He's special. He's ready for an ex-champion or veteran who will give him a different look and that experience that he needs."
Garcia, who is trained by his father, Henry Garcia, and managed by Roger Ruiz, is happy with his progress.
"I feel this is exactly where I need to be at. It's perfect," said Ryan Garcia, who said he will soon move up to lightweight and envisions finishing his career at junior middleweight. "What more could I have asked for? I'm getting the right fights, TV exposure and I've created buzz. I know a lot of people are talking about me. I've accomplished what I need to accomplish this first year. Next year I'm looking for bigger, tougher fights. I just want to keep it moving.
"In 2018, I want to make some type of history, maybe as the youngest active champion or by doing something great. I will push the boundaries. I'm not afraid of failure."
There's been very little of that in his athletic life -- except perhaps that baseball trophy for finishing fourth.
