Хүнд жингийн дэлхийн аварга Райан Гарсиа рингэн дээрх амжилтаа үргэлжлүүлж, бүх бүсний үнэмлэхүй аварга болох зорилго тавин Конор Беннтэй тулалдахаар бэлтгэж байна.
Өдгөө 28 настай Америк боксчин Райан Гарсиа өнгөрсөн хугацаанд сэтгэл зүйн хүндрэл, допингийн шинжилгээний асуудал болон хууль эрх зүйн зөрчлүүдтэй нүүр тулж, хэцүү цаг үеийг туулсан юм. Девин Хэйнитэй хийсэн тулааны дараа түүнийг хориотой бодис хэрэглэсэн хэмээн буруутгаж, ялалтыг нь тооцохоо больж, нэг жилийн хугацаатай рингнээс хөндийрүүлсэн билээ. Гарсиа тухайн үед сэтгэл зүйн хувьд тогтворгүй байснаа хүлээн зөвшөөрч, энэ нь түүнийг өөрийгөө болон эргэн тойрныхоо хүмүүсийг хохирооход хүргэсэн гэв.
Гарсиа сэтгэл зүйн хямралаа даван туулж, дахин бэлтгэлдээ эргэн ороход нь түүний ойр дотнын хүмүүс болон итгэл үнэмшил нь гол түлхэц болсон байна. Тэрээр Марио Барриосыг ялснаар карьертаа анх удаа WBC-ийн 147 фунтын жингийн дэлхийн аваргын бүсийг эзэмшсэн юм. Одоо тэрээр энэхүү жингийн ангилалд бүх бүсийг нэгтгэж, спортын түүхэнд нэрээ үлдээхийг зорьж байна.
Бямба гарагт T-Mobile Arena-д болох Британийн боксчин Конор Беннтэй хийх тулаан нь Гарсиагийн хувьд өөрийгөө нотлох дараагийн том сорилт юм. Тэрээр 26 дахь ялалтаа байгуулж, 21 дэх нокаутаа бүртгүүлэхээр төлөвлөж байгаа бөгөөд энэхүү тулааныг Zuffa Boxing болон Ring Magazine хамтран зохион байгуулж байна.
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It doesn’t take long for Ryan Garcia to take over the room.
The American walks into a meeting room in Las Vegas’ New York-New York hotel, dressed in bold pink tracksuit bottoms, with the WBC welterweight title belt draped over his shoulder, talking as fast as his fists fly.
Garcia has a fight to promote — Saturday’s highly anticipated showdown with Britain’s Conor Benn at the T-Mobile Arena — and he is doing it in his own inimitable style. He admits he is a ‘chameleon’ character — a devout Christian with a controversial past, and who peppers his conversation with curse words — but says he can be the new face of boxing and the undisputed champion at welterweight.
The 28-year-old Californian was an early adopter of social media, and now streams chunks of his days on YouTube.
“You never know what you’re going to get with me,” he tells The Athletic. “I know how to get serious, but I love being joyful and having fun with everybody.”
It makes him an obvious headline act for Mexican Independence weekend, a date synonymous with big-name fighters being the star attraction on The Strip. Still, rewind two years, and there was little to enjoy about Garcia’s predicament.
After exhibiting some bizarre behaviour in the build-up to his fight with Devin Haney in April 2024, which had many worried about his mental health, he failed two drug tests conducted around the bout for the banned substance ostarine.
Ryan Garcia knocks down Devin Haney in a fight that was later scrubbed from the record books (Al Bello/Getty Images)
Garcia denied taking the performance-enhancing drug, blaming contaminated supplements. His stunning win in Brooklyn, however, was scrubbed from the record books, and the New York State Athletic Commission issued Garcia a one-year ban.
It was the start of a very public disintegration. He was drinking heavily and abusing substances while posting conspiracy theories on X on an almost daily basis. At one point he uttered a series of racial slurs about Black people and Muslims on a livestream — behaviour that saw him expelled by the WBC — before later apologising and being reinstated.
He was arrested and charged for causing $15,000 worth of damage at a Los Angeles hotel. After paying restitution close to the value of the vandalism, the case was dismissed.
Garcia appeared to be in a permanent tailspin.
“I 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’t, it would p— anybody off,” Garcia tells The Athletic.
“And 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.
“And then when I won, I was still dealing with it. And then they tried to say I’m on PEDs, so I was livid. And I took it out on the world and life and myself.
“I self-sabotaged myself every way possibly you can. And I didn’t give a f— about anything. But, again, grounding yourself — my faith, my family, my kids, and the things that really matter in life can bring you back.
“And 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—– up a lot of s—, 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.”
While Garcia and Benn share little goodwill — they clashed at a July media event to promote their fight — they do have some common ground when it comes to falling foul of drug testers.
Ryan Garcia clashes with Conor Benn, as Dana White attempts to intervene (Rob Kim/Getty Images for Fanatics)
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.
Benn always maintained his innocence and, in November 2024, the UK’s National Anti-Doping Panel ruled it was “not comfortably satisfied” that UK Anti-Doping had provided enough evidence to prove a doping offence, clearing Benn to continue fighting.
Yet if Garcia does have any sympathy for Benn’s predicament, he is not showing it. “You know, he seems very affected by it,” he says. “But I don’t know. He said he didn’t do it, right?”
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.
“I 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’t switch on, and I couldn’t get it going.
“So I was very depressed. I was like, ‘Man, why can’t I get myself under control?’. And after the loss, I had a lot of time to just sit and think, ‘OK, you know, where do I start?”
He started by asking his neighbour Jeff for help getting in shape.
“And 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.
“And then I started getting more clear-headed. And then it hit me: your body is a temple. God can’t reside in a dirty temple, right?
“Because God lives inside you. So it was a very enlightening experience. When my spirit felt well, I was like, ‘I got this. Let’s go’.”
Despite the defeat and the ban, Garcia was handed a shot at the WBC’s 147lb title earlier this year, and he outpointed Mario Barrios to become a full world champion for the first time in his career.
His past misdemeanours will be stains that will never be completely erased, but boxing is a forgiving sport. His one-time training partner Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez also had a doping offence (he blamed contaminated meat) but it didn’t stop him from selling out arenas in Las Vegas to become the biggest star in the sport. He is just one example of many.
“I have all the ingredients you would want (to be the face of boxing),” says Garcia. “And as long as I stay a true professional and somebody that’s sharp, I think I can.
“That’s why they fear me. Terence Crawford and all these dudes are like, ‘This dude has everything. If he locks in, this is going to be a mother—— to handle’.”
This weekend he will hope to prove it against Benn. Garciais 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.
The bout is being hosted by Saudi Arabia-backed Ring Magazine with Zuffa Boxing. It’s a new entity fronted by Ultimate Fighting Championship tycoon Dana White, while Garcia is still contracted to Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.
If he wins, the plan is to collect the other three belts in a division that has had some of boxing’s biggest names as champion.
‘That (becoming undisputed champion) is all I really want to do,” he added. “This is the most prestigious division other than heavyweight, right?
“This is the who’s who division other than heavyweight because this is what dreams are made of. So when I become undisputed at this weight class, there’s not much more to accomplish.”
