Who was once a humble, God-fearing, athletically-electrifying mental health advocate, is now an unconstrained, social-media obsessed, attention-seeking, and, perhaps, rule-fiddling conspiracy theorist slowly losing his fanbase. A “freewheeling enigma.” That’s how Ryan Garcia was described by the DAZN broadcast team ahead of the boxer’s superfight against pound-for-pound phenom Devin Haney on April 20.
Haney was the clear favorite – and, I mean, a -800 favorite – but Garcia knocked him down three times en route to a majority-decision victory. And once ring announcer Joe Martinez declared “King Ry” the winner in front of thousands holding their breaths inside of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the greatest boxing upset of the last decade was solidified. A well-deserved victory tour was in store for the California kid, and who could blame him? From flying down to Mar-a-Lago and meeting with former President Donald Trump, to performing his new rap song, “Blessed, Highly Favored,” at Colorado University, Garcia was on top of the boxing world.
No. He was on top of the world itself, with 12.1 million Instagram followers.
Taking a page out of Tony Stark’s (Iron Man) book, Garcia could have described himself as a “charismatic, rich, 25-year-old sex symbol with an athletic skillset beloved by millions.” But in an instant – like his patented left hook – disaster struck. Millions around the world opened up their social media accounts to see Garcia test posi.