By: Sean Crose
His rise was spectacular. Emerging not only as a power punching dynamo, Ryan Garcia was also media savvy, handsome and marketable. There was a reason why he cut a deal with Gatorade. The guy could sell, whether it was tickets to a fight or a sports drink. The young Garcia knew how to bring in money and positive attention. That was then. How much things have changed since.
No one faulted Garcia for losing to Gervonta Davis when they met a couple of years back. Davis was power punching himself; extremely fast too. In the end he was just too skilled for the popular Californian. What started to impact Garcia’s career wasn’t the loss, but his behavior leading up to the 2024 Devin Haney fight. Haney was the favorite, but Garcia acted truly peculiar in the lead-up. What’s more, he showed up overweight, boasted of drinking, and actually had fans worried about him.
Even after he pulled off a stunning one-sided win over Haney, Garcia ended up getting popped for having a banned substance in his system. So much for having that win on his record … or for having a stellar reputation as an honest fighter. Things went from bad to worse last year when Garcia was bested by gritty Rolly Romero in Times Square. Since that time, Garcia has had a question mark floating over him. Can he save his career? Can he return to form? Was he even always a clean fighter? These questions will probably be answered at least to some degree this Saturday night when Garcia faces Mario Barrios for Barrios’ WBC world junior welterweight title.
Make no mistake about it, Garcia not only has to win on Saturday, but he has to look good doing it. Otherwise his career may legitimately be on the downslide. Provided he looks impressive for this weekend in Vegas, the fighter known as King Ry may find himself back in business. That’s the good news. The bad news is, a poor showing or even worse, a defeat, will keep that question mark hovering over him, if not for a long time then possibly for the rest of his career.
As far as Garcia is concerned, Saturday night is the Moment Of Truth. Some may even argue this weekend’s pay-per-view event is Garcia’s chance to put up or shut up. If that’s the case, Garcia fans can only hope he gets the message. If he doesn’t, people may actually say the fighter is washed up at the age of 27. And despite what some may think of him, that would honestly be a shame.
