arrested and charged for causing $15,000 worth of damage at a Los Angeles hotel.<\/a> After paying restitution close to the value of the vandalism, the case was dismissed.<\/p>\nGarcia appeared to be in a permanent tailspin.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like if people knew the context of why I was so angry and understood how much I had a passion to win that fight (against Haney) and then ultimately for them to say that I took steroids when I know I didn\u2019t, it would p\u2014 anybody off,\u201d Garcia tells The Athletic.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I was already having mental health struggles before the fight. But, you know, I was so determined to beat Devin Haney that I fought through those mental health issues before going into the fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then when I won, I was still dealing with it. And then they tried to say I\u2019m on PEDs, so I was livid. And I took it out on the world and life and myself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI self-sabotaged myself every way possibly you can. And I didn\u2019t give a f\u2014 about anything. But, again, grounding yourself \u2014 my faith, my family, my kids, and the things that really matter in life can bring you back.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd God says a righteous man can fall seven times and get up eight. So that I took very seriously. Like, you know what? I may have f\u2014\u2013 up a lot of s\u2014, but there has to be a way back, you know? And thank God for the people around me and my team. And we went and got back on our horse.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Garcia and Benn share little goodwill \u2014 they clashed at a July media event to promote their fight \u2014 they do have some common ground when it comes to falling foul of drug testers.<\/p>\n
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\n Ryan Garcia clashes with Conor Benn, as Dana White attempts to intervene (Rob Kim\/Getty Images for Fanatics)<\/p>\n
Benn was due to fight Chris Eubank Jr. in a much-hyped British grudge match in October 2022, but it was called off after Benn failed two drug tests conducted by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA), testing positive for the female fertility drug clomifene, a banned substance as it can elevate testosterone levels.<\/p>\n
Benn always maintained his innocence and, in November 2024, the UK\u2019s National Anti-Doping Panel ruled it was \u201cnot comfortably satisfied\u201d that UK Anti-Doping had provided enough evidence to prove a doping offence, clearing Benn to continue fighting.<\/p>\n
Yet if Garcia does have any sympathy for Benn\u2019s predicament, he is not showing it. \u201cYou know, he seems very affected by it,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I don\u2019t know. He said he didn\u2019t do it, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
Garcia returned to the ring in May 2025 but suffered a surprise defeat by Rolly Romero after a flat performance. It was his second career loss after being stopped by Gervonta Davis in 2023. Garcia says he only began to rebuild after the Romero fight, with the help of his neighbour.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was trying to get ready for the Rolly fight, knowing that I just went a whole year and a half out. I know the process, and I know what you have to be feeling in order to be ready for a fight. But I couldn\u2019t switch on, and I couldn\u2019t get it going.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I was very depressed. I was like, \u2018Man, why can\u2019t I get myself under control?\u2019. And after the loss, I had a lot of time to just sit and think, \u2018OK, you know, where do I start?\u201d<\/p>\n
He started by asking his neighbour Jeff for help getting in shape.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he would come every day. Even though I was depressed, he would come every day. We hit the weight gym and slowly my body started transforming.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then I started getting more clear-headed. And then it hit me: your body is a temple. God can\u2019t reside in a dirty temple, right?<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause God lives inside you. So it was a very enlightening experience. When my spirit felt well, I was like, \u2018I got this. Let\u2019s go\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the defeat and the ban, Garcia was handed a shot at the WBC\u2019s 147lb title earlier this year, and he outpointed Mario Barrios to become a full world champion for the first time in his career.<\/p>\n
His past misdemeanours will be stains that will never be completely erased, but boxing is a forgiving sport. His one-time training partner Saul \u2018Canelo\u2019 Alvarez also had a doping offence<\/a> (he blamed contaminated meat) but it didn\u2019t stop him from selling out arenas in Las Vegas to become the biggest star in the sport. He is just one example of many.<\/p>\n\u201cI have all the ingredients you would want (to be the face of boxing),\u201d says Garcia. \u201cAnd as long as I stay a true professional and somebody that\u2019s sharp, I think I can.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why they fear me. Terence Crawford and all these dudes are like, \u2018This dude has everything. If he locks in, this is going to be a mother\u2014\u2014 to handle\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
This weekend he will hope to prove it against Benn. Garcia\u00a0is supremely confident he will get his 26th career win and 21st by stoppage. He believes Benn is already preparing excuses by talking about his struggles to get down to the 147lb limit.<\/p>\n
The bout is being hosted by Saudi Arabia-backed Ring Magazine with Zuffa Boxing. It\u2019s a new entity fronted by Ultimate Fighting Championship tycoon Dana White, while Garcia is still contracted to Oscar de la Hoya\u2019s Golden Boy Promotions.<\/p>\n
If he wins, the plan is to collect the other three belts in a division that has had some of boxing\u2019s biggest names as champion.<\/p>\n
\u2018That (becoming undisputed champion) is all I really want to do,\u201d he added. \u201cThis is the most prestigious division other than heavyweight, right?<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the who\u2019s who division other than heavyweight because this is what dreams are made of. So when I become undisputed at this weight class, there\u2019s not much more to accomplish.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It doesn\u2019t take long for Ryan Garcia to take over the room. The American walks into a meeting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":886995,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,11880,85,3276],"class_list":["post-886994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-global-sports","tag-sports","tag-sports-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=886994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/886995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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