Written by Declan Taylor
RYAN Garcia needs to get off his social media and downsize his team if he wants to save his boxing career.
That’s the view of his super-lightweight rival Teofimo Lopez, who has had his share of problems outside the ring himself.
Garcia has now been suspended by the New York Commission for 12 months after testing positive for the performance-enhancing drug ostarine following his victory over Devin Haney on April 20.
The result of that fight, in which he came in 3 1/4lbs overweight, has now been changed to a no-contest, and the commission also said that Garcia will have to forfeit the $1m he bankrolled for his part in the fight. Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
The commission’s decision adds to a tumultuous period for Garcia, who has drawn attention for some of his actions in the run-up to the fight, in addition to his arrest for allegedly vandalizing property at a Beverly Hills hotel earlier this month.
Garcia took a 15-month break from boxing following his January 2021 win over Luke Campbell due to mental health issues, which led to him considering suicide.
Now Lopez, who faced a similar battle earlier in his career, believes the 25-year-old Garcia can save himself with the help of his family.
Teofimo Lopez (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
“I think he needs to get off social media — just get off,” Lopez said Debate News.
“Just literally get out of everything. I know he was trying to keep himself on some kind of celebratory trip after the biggest win of his career. But eventually you have to just get off it and off the grid. You need to let people ask themselves ‘where is Ryan Garcia?’ Instead of seeing him everywhere. Then you get to find them.
“The people with him are small children. They really absorb all that light that he has in him. They take everything for their own benefit. What happens is people feel like they are the best and you get a lost case like you see with Ryan Garcia.
“It’s all about who you surround yourself with. It’s not the mind blowing stuff that happens on social media, you just get used to it. But the other part – there are people around him that he doesn’t need anymore and he needs to be alone or be with his mother at these times. Or be with his father and really meet his family. Just hang in there man, you have kids too. Be that part.”
Lopez also came under fire for her comments about Garcia’s mother, Lisa, who was recently diagnosed with cancer. Lopez appears to be saying that her cancer was caused by ‘selling her soul’ to Garcia. The quotes, no doubt, angered Garcia, who has threatened to hurt Lopez the next time the two cross paths.
But, speaking directly to Garcia with Debate News, Lopez said: “I’m talking to Ryan Garcia here. I know you want to fight me when you see me in person. That’s right. I didn’t mean anything bad to your mother in that sense. If you really look closely, I said that I wish nothing but health for your mother. Cancer is no joke.
“But people will say what they have to say and tell you exactly that part of it and not talk about the good I meant. But to each his own. If you want to take it out of the ring, I have to defend myself brother. So you must be stupid to throw first, I have to defend myself. I’m not going to be the guy to punch you, that’s not how we do things here. My fight is in the ring and I have always expressed that.
“Don’t focus on outside noise. Focus on the important things in your life. Because all that money doesn’t go with you – it will. I don’t even mean to hurt my brother. You can say I’m lying but I’m not lying. I don’t wish you well either.”
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