Two of Golden Boy Promotions’ best fighters on its roster are unimpressed with Ryan Garcia’s shenanigans.
Garcia has courted controversy at various junctures this year, and even Oscar de la Hoya intervened to say there was no room for the fighter’s nonsense “at my company, period.”
World Boxing News found a similar reaction from prominent members of the Golden Boy roster, including Vergil Ortiz, who Garcia has seemingly instigated a rivalry with, and Alexis Rocha.
When speaking to Ortiz this week, we asked the super welterweight if he’d settle the rivalry with Garcia next year in a catchweight fight — but he almost scoffed at the idea and said his fellow Golden Boy boxer was too unreliable for such a proposition to be taken seriously.
The 26-year-old knockout artist said: “He has a lot of issues. I don’t know what he’s going through — that’s just on him.”
Ortiz said a fight involving him and Garcia would be a monster regardless of whether Golden Boy staged it in Texas, California, or Las Vegas in Nevada.
But it’s not one he’s ultimately interested in investing his time into.
He said he has been friends with Garcia in the past and that any animosity Garcia has had toward him has “been on his part.”
He said: “I just think he’s a liability, man. I’m not going to rely on him for any fight.”
Welterweight contender Alexis Rocha, meanwhile, expressed disappointment in Garcia when talking to World Boxing News on Friday from his gym in Santa Ana, California. He said his Golden Boy stablemate was misusing his social media platform and reach.
Garcia seemed on top of the combat sports world after dropping Devin Haney three times en route to the biggest decision win of his career in April, but he has been under the spotlight for a string of out-of-the-ring missteps throughout the year.
The month before Garcia’s signature win, the New York State Athletic Commission requested a mental evaluation of the fighter after he posted a series of concerning social media posts.
The nature of his win, in which he looked like one of the best fighters on the planet, came into question on May 1 after test results detected Ostarine — a performance-enhancing drug — in his urine.
Since then, police arrested him for felony vandalism, he had an altercation with Caleb Plant in Las Vegas, got slapped with a one-year suspension and saw his Haney win overturned to a no-contest.
The WBC also expelled him this week for problematic comments regarding race, the KKK, and George Floyd during a livestream. He has said he was trolling in a since-deleted post.
“There is no room for hate or intolerance,” Golden Boy founder and promoter De La Hoya said in a statement.
Rocha, meanwhile, told us: “What Ryan’s doing now is not right. I don’t know the people behind him or anything involved in his camp. But he should know better.
“He has a voice, not just in the boxing world, but social media platforms, the clothing line. He’s a public figure who speaks to millions of people. A lot of kids look up to him. And what he’s saying is outrageous and absurd. The comments he’s making, I don’t agree with.”
Rocha continued: “You can tell he’s battling some… alcohol problem. I think his family came out and said that it’s an alcohol problem that needs rehab.
“You just got to pray for the guy,” Lex said. “That’s all you gotta do, you know. We could bash them down, cancel him and whatnot, but he’s batting his own demons, and you just gotta pray for him and hope he gets better.”
Alan Dawson is World Boxing News Lead Writer, a 2 x Sports Journalist of the Year finalist, and 5 x BWAA awards winner. Follow Alan @AlanDawsonSport.
