Garner faces Italian Michael Magnesi for the WBC interim world super featherweight championship at St Mary’s Stadium on Saturday, June 20.
And the 28 year old, who trains at Batten’s Boxing, located a stone’s throw away from St Mary’s Stadium, is confident that the ‘best Ryan Garner’ will show up.
Garner has only made slight adjustments during this training camp, all aimed at preparing himself to face former WBC international silver champion Magnesi.
Spanish boxer Salvador Jimenez was flown into Southampton as a sparring partner, while Garner also trained against knockout artist Sam Noakes.
“I’ve been putting the hard work in. I went away to Tenerife and was away from the kids and the missus for 11 days, just running up mountains,” Garner told us.
Michael Magnesi (right) and Ryan Garner face off at St Mary’s. (Image: Andrew Matthews/PA)
READ: Garner determined to ensure Southampton’s first major boxing event is not the last
“I’ve just had my last sparring partner over the past few days. We are coming to the back end of preparations now, and I’m feeling confident.
“I don’t change too much about my prep between fights. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, as the old saying goes. You always adapt little bits of training.
“When you face different opponents, you need different sparring partners, but you never want to overcomplicate it too much. We know what works best for me.
“The best version of Ryan Garner beats anyone on their day. I think Michael Magnesi’s style is made for me. This is going to be my coming-out party on the world stage.”
A surprise face at last month’s training camp in Tenerife was former Saints interim and under-21s boss Simon Rusk, who Garner considers a close friend.
Rusk, 44, spent 11 years as a footballer before becoming a coach, and is someone Garner can go to for advice and a different perspective.
“He’s become a really good friend of ours. He first came to the gym with the under-21s to do some boxing sessions,” Garner continued.
Ryan Garner is striving to become the first Southampton boxer to become a World Champion. (Image: Queensberry/Leigh Dawney)
“Then he became friends with Wayne [Batten], my coach, and through that, I became really good friends with him. He comes away with us on training trips.
“He came to Spain with us. He’s an ex-professional athlete. He’s older than me and has been there, seen it and done it himself. He’s someone who will always help.”
Garner is not the only local fighter on the billing for Southampton’s first major boxing event, but he does wish there were more.
Lewie Edmondson is facing Lyndon Arthur, while exciting prospect Taylor Bevan is aiming for his ninth straight knockout victory when he takes on Ryszard Lewicki.
“It’s a shame that it’s only us three, really. When you look at some of the shows in Yorkshire, there are a lot more young professionals on there from the area,” Garner concluded.
“We haven’t got as much of that in Southampton, which is a bit of a shame, but it’s good for the three of us to be on such a big show together.”