For the first time since a tumultuous 2024, which featured a drug test suspension and a very public mental health crisis, boxing superstar Ryan Garcia has come clean, in detail, about his battles with drugs and alcohol.
Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs), who saw his April 2024 upset of unbeaten Devin Haney changed to a no contest when he tested positive for a banned substance, told Akin Reyes and Barak Bess last week during an exclusive sitdown interview on “Ring Champs” that it took a July arrest in Los Angeles and the threat of losing custody of his three children for the 26-year-old to make the necessary changes to his unscrupulous lifestyle.
“I was doing everything — gambling, drinking, women; whatever I wanted to do,” Garcia said during the sitdown, produced by All the Smoke Fight, that debuted Wednesday. “I was just destroying my soul, just destroying my spirit. Everything took a toll on me.
“[My family] wanted me to get help and they tried as best as they can but when you are in that state, you aren’t listening. When you have everything you want at your disposal, it’s not for everybody. I have an addictive personality so, when I got going, I got going and just took it to a whole other place.”
Garcia, a native of Victorville, California, confirmed suspicions that substance abuse played a big role in the lead-up and aftermath of his fight against Haney, which left Garcia suspended for one year after testing positive for the performance-enhancing drug Ostarine. Garcia also pointed to his January 2024 divorce from his wife, Andrea Celina, which came just weeks after the birth of their son Henry, as a catalyst in his mental health decline, along with his mother Lisa’s breast cancer diagnosis in June.
The remainder of 2024 saw Garcia become a constant headline for debauchery and bizarre behavior, which included racist comments on social media and almost daily audio chats on X (formerly known as Twitter) where Garcia spouted nonsensical conspiracy theories while attempting to rally support against child trafficking. Garcia also publicly entered into verbal wars with many top fighters across multiple weight divisions by brazenly insulting their wives and families.
Although Garcia never confirmed whether therapy or medication played a role in his turnaround as he prepares for a May 2 return in New York’s Times Square against Rolando Romero, he has been noticeably reserved and calm in recent months while training for his comeback. Garcia also shared that for the second half of 2024, as he traveled the world and partied amid his fighting suspension, he questioned whether he would ever step foot in a ring again.
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“I’m surprised I am here right now,” Garcia said. “I was drinking every day, every single day, even the day of the [Haney] fight. The day of the fight, I just got so involved with trying to cope with whatever was inside. I was struggling mentally for years and it just wouldn’t stop for me. That’s how I coped with it.
“The turning point was to realize, ‘Damn, bro, I’m f—ing my life up.’ Getting arrested was a big part of it, almost losing my kids was a huge part of it.”
Garcia, who is currently being sued by Fanmio and was accused of faking an injury after pulling out of a scheduled December exhibition bout against kickboxer Rukiya Anpo in Japan, was arrested last June for vandalizing the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Beverly Hills and causing an estimated $15,000 in damage.
“I decided to take a bunch of shrooms, something I was doing already but this time I took too many,” Garcia said. “I kind of just lost it, bro. I can’t even say anything else. I ended up breaking everything in the room. I really don’t remember. I was drunk and f—ing everything up. I feel I just didn’t have those type of people [around me who cared].
“I personally don’t like to blame nobody, that’s just me. I take responsibility. The blame is on me. I wasn’t around the right people. But, at that time, nothing was going to get to me. I was in a whole different universe, to be honest.”
Should Garcia defeat Romero in May, he is already contractually linked to a rematch against Haney in the fall. But Haney, who will fight Jose Ramirez in the co-main event of their shared Times Square fight card, is also currently suing Garcia for battery, fraud and breach of contract dating back to their infamous meeting in the ring, although Garcia maintains his innocence regarding PED use and said he still believes he was set up by Haney’s team.
“After what happened last year, it kind of just kills that joy of the shit for me because … they took the victory I felt I always wanted against an elite fighter that would give me my respect in boxing,” Garcia said. “I was drinking and doing all that but one thing I don’t do is take steroids. I know, in my heart, they set me up in that way. Regardless of what their claims are, they are never going to admit that but it was just so convenient.
“I tested clean all the way through and then after the fight, everything was good. [Haney’s] little brother posted [on social media] that I was going to test positive for steroids. How the f— would he know that I was going to test positive before any of that news came out? It gets announced and then the next day, Devin Haney is on SportsCenter talking about it. It feels like I was set up and it did a number on me. I became very angry and I guess, in a sense, I’m still angry in a way.
“I think this kindness is just a passive aggressive thing like I’m just waiting for something to pop off and I’m channeling it in terms of training for Rolly.”
Garcia missed weight for the Haney fight by over three pounds and was criticized for taking a swig from a beer bottle while weighing in. Even though Garcia was ineligible to win Haney’s WBC title at 140 pounds due to the weight miss, he went on to score a trio of knockdowns to earn a unanimous decision that was later overturned.
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