It has been less than one year since Ryan Garcia crumbled Devin Haney in the ring and left his own reputation in rubble with his manic and outlandish behavior in the promotional period leading up to the fight.
It has been less than nine months since Garcia was stripped of that win, fined and suspended by the New York State Athletic Commission for two positive PEDs tests. Shortly thereafter, Garcia was expelled by the WBC due to his racist remarks about George Floyd, Black people and Muslims on a social media livestream.
So at Tuesday’s press conference in New York touting a “Fatal Fury” mega-card featuring Garcia, Haney and Teofimo Lopez Jnr in separate fights – all to be staged in the middle of Times Square on May 2 – we were all left to ponder a question:
Can a man change his stripes? And – sheesh – what kind of self-help plan gets it done inside a year?
To be fair, Garcia is a young man of his times – a 26-year-old with an eight-figure social media following and a fighter who is actively playing boxing’s clickbait game, which has become as important to his popularity and power as any left hook he has ever thrown. He also has admitted battling alcohol and substance issues, and went public with a bipolar diagnosis that, by implication, seemed to be an explanation for his conduct around the Haney spectacle.
During the streamed broadcast of Tuesday’s presser, the word “mature” was bandied about more than once with Garcia’s name, and indeed, there were moments of calm, reflection and even penitence from Garcia.
“I want to be great,” Garcia said. “I've always wanted to fight the best fighters in the sport, and as far as my problems outside the ring, I've always had those problems. I don't know who else struggles with stuff like that, but that's just something I was struggling with. And I know I want to just show everybody that you could come back from anything. And I want to show my dedication to the sport and just be a true professional.”
Sounds like a sincere enough sentiment, yeah? Except that roughly 48 hours ago, Garcia sent the following tweet from his X account to his May 2 scheduled opponent, “Rolly” Rolando Romero:
“Rollie’s ima let you know thru this tweet and I hope you understand this truly, I’m not taking you lightly at all, I’m coming with some real fucking anger and I’m sorry it has to be you, you can say all the funny shit you are going to say Tuesday, but if you cross the line ima slap the fuck outta you. I promise you.”
Or there was this exchange with Lopez on the dais moments after Garcia’s “true professional” sweet-nothings:
“I am your champion, by the way – Ring magazine,” Lopez said, referring to his status as the Ring belt holder, a distinction that holds more weight than sanctioning body belts for most around the sport. “I am your champion.”
“We don't give a fuck, bro,” Garcia interjected. “I'm tired of hearing this shit. We don’t give a fuck. We gonna run that, too.”
Lopez: “You guys are talking so politely. This is crazy.”
Garcia: “Shut the fuck up. Yeah, ‘cause that’s how we’re keeping it.”
Yeah, but … are we? I’m the first to admit that a crusty, middle-aged sportswriter isn’t the best gauge for what’s “hot” and “now” regarding nearly any enterprise, maybe even boxing included. But I can tell you that the self-important staging of a press conference to give a carnival barker’s platform to world-class fighters who also happen to be the corniest of goofballs ain’t where it’s at. It has become insufferably common. It is clutter and cringe for authentic fans of the sport. And it is why boxing, save for a few on the margins, will never expand its fan base beyond its current niche of bros, man-children and rubberneckers.
We can’t lay all that at the feet of Garcia. But if he were serious about his reformation, we’re getting very mixed messages directly from the source.
“I admit my wrongs, and I don't want anybody to take my actions of drinking and smoking before the fight and try to think that's a way to handle yourself as a professional,” he said, referring back to the Haney build-up. “So I came here to change that, and this is my first fight to get respect back and then prove to everybody that it was a fluke, and I'm ready to do it.”
Fluke or flake? At this point, does it even matter?
Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Chicago Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at LinkedIn and followed on X and Bluesky.