Ryan Garcia Picks Thomas Hearns to Beat Both Crawford and Mayweather

Ryan Garcia has a name for the man he thinks could've unpicked both Terence Crawford and Floyd Mayweather — and it isn't a name from this era. The WBC welterweight champion, 25-2 with 20 knockouts, told Daily Mail Boxing that Thomas Hearns would beat either undefeated great in a prime-for-prime matchup.

That's a bold thing to say about two of the cleanest resumes in the sport. Mayweather walked away 50-0 and was crowned the Boxing Writers Association of America's Fighter of the Decade for the 2010s. Crawford closed his own book at 42-0 (31 KO), retiring in December as an undefeated five-division champion after taking the undisputed super-middleweight crown off Canelo Alvarez by unanimous decision.

Why Hearns

Garcia's logic isn't hard to follow. 'The Hitman' won his first world title at welterweight, stopping Jose Cuevas in 1980 before dropping his belt to Sugar Ray Leonard a year later in the opening chapter of the Four Kings saga. But Hearns kept climbing — collecting world honors all the way up to light-heavyweight and finishing his career at cruiserweight. When you consider the frame and the reach he carried from 147 upward, picking him over anyone is at least defensible.

The more interesting subplot is what Garcia wants next. He's said he intends to coax Crawford out of retirement and hand the 38-year-old his first professional loss — but only if he gets through his own business first. Garcia defends his WBC strap against Conor Benn in September, and Benn arrives with a 25-1 record and momentum off a unanimous-decision win over Regis Prograis.

There's a catch, and it's a big one. Crawford has shown no appetite for a comeback, reportedly turning down a lucrative offer to lace them back up. Beating Canelo in your final act is a hard note to walk away from, and 'Bud' seems content to leave the 42-0 intact.

Mayweather, for his part, may not stay retired much longer either. A rematch with Manny Pacquiao is being floated for early 2027, which would put that 50-0 back on the line for the first time in years. So while Garcia's Hearns pick is a fun barroom argument, the real story is that both men he's ranking below a 1980s legend still hold the leverage — one because he might return, the other because he refuses to.