It was not easy to imagine that a one-year suspension from professional boxing would not keep Ryan Garcia out of the news. The controversial fighter always manages to return to the front pages, and having the social networks at his disposal, he used them to return to the charge, and in his style. Comments of various kinds on various topics, most of them generating conflicting opinions, but with one that brought consequences, and not positive ones. Let’s go by parts.
After her positive for ostarine and subsequent suspension, Garcia has especially used Twitter and Instagram to defend herself from the accusations and express her opinion, but also generating controversy with her comments on various several. It did not go unnoticed the message of support he dedicated to Cristiano Ronaldo after missing a penalty with the Portuguese national team in the Euro Cup: “I love you my brother in Cristo. Don’t worry about penalties. You’re the best to ever touch the pitch. I love you @cristiano.” The post left debating those who interpreted it as a sincere gesture of support from one athlete to another, with those who see it as a marketing ploy to capitalize on Ronaldo’s popularity.
But the suspended pugilist and active opinionator returned to the fray. The occasion was Toronto’s gay pride parade, which included fully or partially naked people in front of families, some of them accompanied by children. Garcia wasted no opportunity and added his voice (writing in this case) to the chorus of the outraged, calling the event a “direct attack on children and God”.
But, the icing on the cake, was his participation in a talk at a Space de X, in which he expressed racist comments against the Muslim population and the black race, even expressed a negative opinion about the case of George Floyd, which generated the Black Lives Matter movement. Expressions that caused a stir and that, for the World Boxing Council (WBC) were intolerable for violating the sporting values of the organization. “In exercise of my authority as president of the WBC, I hereby expel Ryan Garcia from any activity with our organization. We reject any form of discrimination,” WBC president Francisco Sulayman posted. He added that he feared “for Ryan’s well-being, as he has rejected multiple attempts to receive help from us with his mental health and substance abuse.”
HIS FAMILY DISSOCIATES ITSELF FROM RYAN
Being fair, before learning of the suspension, Garcia himself apologized for his comments, “I was trolling, I want all the killing to stop. I love everyone, sorry if I offended you,” he posted on his official X account. However, his apology was not enough even for his family who signed a statement disassociating themselves from the boxer: “Our family does not support any of the statements he has made about race or religion, as they do not reflect who Ryan really is or how he was raised,” read in part the statement which included concern for Garcia’s mental health.
With another sanction in place, the 25-year-old Californian with Mexican roots and a fighter of undeniable condition, wrote a new chapter of this tragicomedy, starring himself. But there are more to come, because the Ryan Garcia saga will always ‘continue’.
