Ryan Garcia’s performance against Rolando Romero during a unanimous-decision defeat in May has been one of the most surprising results of the year.

The pre-fight buildup suggested that the heavily favored Garcia would knock out the tailor-made Romero and move on to a much-discussed rematch against Devin Haney. Those plans went up in smoke in a hurry.

Afterward, Garcia underwent surgery on his right hand for the second time in four years. As he readies for his rebound, Garcia (24-2, 20 KOs, 1 NC) is adamant he’ll have his way with Romero (17-2, 13 KOs) should a sequel be in store.

“The fight I am most interested in is me getting my rematch against Rolando Romero,” Garcia told The Ring.

Garcia's and Romero’s camps have already kicked off negotiations and are in advanced talks for a rematch to take place as early as December, The Ring has learned, according to a source with direct knowledge of the discussions.

“That just wasn’t me that night," Garcia said. “I had hand problems on both of my hands, coming off a one-year layoff, and a weird training camp, training just four weeks with Derrick James, and fighting in front of a small crowd. I had a severely swollen knuckle on my left hand going in, two weeks before the fight. Anything I did flared it up. I was basically fighting with no hands, and that’s why you saw me barely throw any punches.

“It was the first time that’s ever happened in any of my fights. It was hard for me to accept during the fight. I cried after the fight not because I lost, but because I was defenseless. It sucks when you’re a competitor, and I was actually shocked Rolly was not attacking me. It was a weird night and just a mess all the way through.”

Outside of Romero’s second-round knockdown, their welterweight fight featured little action. At the time, their 490 combined punches thrown was the third fewest in a 12-round fight in CompuBox’s 40-year history of tracking fights. Garcia landed 66 punches and Romero connected with 57.

With healthy hands, Garcia envisions a much heavier offensive onslaught and a revised game plan to best his rival Romero.

“The rematch is going to come down to who sets the pace and makes the move,” said Garcia. “He never attacked me, and it’s always going to be a weird fight, and an awkward fight, because we both hit hard. I have a plan for him the next time, and I'll run him over with it and sink him in deep waters. Rolly doesn’t take pressure and punches really well. He doesn’t like fighting on the inside. You saw what happened to him against Isaac Cruz. A healthy version of me knocks out Rolly. It’s simple.”

Garcia also emphasized that he is remaining optimistic in recent months after seeing the rematch against Haney fall by the wayside. In addition to a fight against Romero, Garcia is also open to fights against Teofimo Lopez and Manny Pacquiao.

“Sometimes you need the wake-up call,” Garcia said. “It’s no secret that I have already battled through so many challenges that most of these fighters wouldn’t be able to last. I see the noise and the people bringing me down. But I will be back, and I am going to be so happy to prove everyone wrong. That’s what champions are made of.”