Ryan Garcia is one of the fastest rising stars in boxing ... with a 17-0 record and a huge contract with Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions.
But, what he REALLY wants ... is a date with Selena Gomez!!
"She's single so lemme shoot my shot," the 20-year-old told us ... "Lemme take you out!"
Garcia even gave a pitch to Gomez ... saying, "I would protect you, you know!?"
He's right ... dude's got a lethal left hook and has been obliterating opponents since he turned pro at 17 years old back in 2016.
Since then, Garcia has developed a huge following -- with 1.7 million followers on Instagram! He's also starring in a new series "On the Ropes" produced by the Brat digital studio. Dude's killing it right now.
Garcia tells TMZ Sports he's working on closing a deal for his next fight in March -- but he's also seriously interested in fighting Tenshin Nasukawa ... the guy who got beat up by Floyd Mayweather.
"He should fight me," Garcia says ... while making his case for why the two 20-year-olds would actually be an entertaining matchup.
Long story short ... they're more equally matched in size and experience -- but Garcia says the outcome will be the same ... Tenshin gets KO'd.