In any other sport the decision would be made for Ryan Garcia. Ever since the young Californian's fight with WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney was made official for April 20 in Las Vegas, his behaviour has been a mixture of bizarre, confusing and downright worrying.
Initial concerns were raised by revelations that he's been smoking weed and drinking alcohol in the lead up to a world title fight. "I drink and I smoke weed, and so does the majority of this room," said Garcia at the Los Angeles press conference.
Newsflash: The majority of the room isn't scheduled to fight Devin Haney in a matter of weeks.
MORE: When is Devin Haney vs. Ryan Garcia? Fight date, start time, odds and card
"What kind of example are you for the younger generation watching this?" asked the champion, who was well within his right to do so. "Talking about you drink and smoke weed, making that cool. The younger generation look up to us."
Undeterred, Garcia fired back: "You've finally got somebody raising their hand saying, 'I'm real. I'm like this. I do drink, I do smoke — now what?'"
At this point, I was of the impression that Garcia was simply building the fight. I'd interviewed him for a Ring Magazine cover story in 2021, and while he was bright and charming, it was obvious that he viewed the world through the prism of social media. Push buttons to get a reaction.
However, the narrative has changed within the last few days. In a series of social posts on Twitter (X), Garcia suggested he was dead, claimed to have been raped as a child, made seemingly satanic references and indicated that he possessed evidence of "human trafficking".
Garcia also talked about proof of alien existence and name-dropped "The Bohemian Grove" (a rumored elitist cult). Much of this came as he indulged in a Twitter (X) Spaces with controversial social media personality and former MMA fighter Andrew Tate.
In response to his initial social activity, his ex-wife, Andrea Celina, expressed her concerns for his mental state and safety.
It's not my job to question the validity of Garcia's claims. Regardless of anything else, the American's very public outpouring suggests he is dealing with a period of mental anguish — and anyone in that situation deserves sympathy and help.
But speaking from a purely boxing perspective, the elephant in the room is that this is all unfolding in the lead up to a professional bout. In this sport, your life is on the line. You are being punched in the head with 10oz gloves and your opponent's job is to knock you unconscious.
Garcia was installed as the underdog against Haney even when the fight was first announced, and for good reason. He's going in against arguably the best pure boxer in the world today — a dazzling and unbeaten foe who rendered the world-class Regis Prograis completely ineffective in his most recent bout.
MORE: Ryan Garcia tweets timeline: History of disturbing comments, 'Bohemian Grove' rant
According to CompuBox, Haney connected on 129 of 367 punches against Prograis, 80 of those being head shots, over 12 rounds. Ask yourself, is the best thing for Ryan Garcia to be absorbing anything like 80 flush head shots right now?
What Garcia needs is someone to step up on his behalf. In any sport with a regulatory body, he would have had his license removed while the situation was assessed. If he were a footballer, basketball player, tennis player — he'd have been stood down. But oh, what the hell, boxing is the Wild West, so let's just throw him into a gunfight.
Really?
If you take a step back and think about it, the situation is absolutely disgusting. I'm a huge fight fan; I love watching Haney and Garcia, so a matchup between them is must-see TV. The problem right now is that this is a fight between a consummate professional and someone who appears to be in a state of mental turmoil. It's a disaster waiting to happen.
Everybody In The World can hold me accountable on this pic.twitter.com/qUdnTvYG17
— RYAN GARCIA (@RyanGarcia) March 6, 2024
What if Garcia gets seriously hurt? What if this contributes to a decline in his state of mind post-April 20? I'm in the boxing business and I don't want to see the sport damaged by a completely ill-timed world title fight. For what? Just so everyone can get rich? Where's boxing's moral compass in all this?
On Wednesday, Garcia appeared on social media with a friend, vowing to take training seriously for the next several weeks. It's too late. If you consider yourself a true friend to Ryan Garcia, then do the right thing and pull the plug, so he can get any help he might need, and live to fight another day.
