De La Hoya defends Garcia: what did he say about Ryan’s racist comments?

From heaven to hell in just a few days. That’s what Ryan Garcia experienced after facing the WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney last April.

‘KingRy’ was a huge underdog in his clash against Haney but he pulled off the upset and in a brilliant performance. Garcia started being massively praised by the boxing community, but everything changed when he tested positive for the banned substance Ostarine. A positive that was confirmed days later, when the B samples proved the 25-year-old rising star had cheated in that fight.

But Garcia’s downfall didn’t stop there, as he was recently expelled from the World Boxing Council (WBC) due to racist comments. Ryan repeatedly used racial slurs against Black people, George Floyd, and disparaged Muslims in a series of posts on social media.

What did De La Hoya say about Ryan Garcia’s racist comments?

However, promoter Oscar De La Hoya defended Garcia. The former world champion stated that the boxer is dealing with many issues and that’s something that has to be investigated.

“In boxing, you don’t know what the hell is going on around your circle because people can plant things. The WBC made their statement, and it is what it is”, The Golden Boy said to Fight Hub TV.

De La Hoya has shown his support for Ryan after all the recent controversy. Before his fight with Haney, the American showed strange behavior, writing bizarre posts on social media. He missed weight -3.1 pounds-, so he couldn’t compete for the WBC lightweight belt. After testing positive for Ostarine, he was banned from boxing for a year.

“It’s wrong what he said, but you got to gather all the information before you make the accusations the way the WBC did”, De La Hoya said after the boxer was expelled from the boxing organization.

García shared on X he didn’t agree with the decision, adding he was struggling with some issues and was going through a lot.

“I’m not a doctor. I don’t know. Maybe Ryan has a bad psychological problem when he does this. I heard he dies shrooms, drugs, and or when he’s drinking. Maybe he has people inside his circle telling him it’s okay to do this like a sabotage type of thing”, the former boxer explained.

Ryan Garcia: going to rehab or coaching his brother?

Shortly after, Garcia shared on his socials he was going to go to rehabilitation, but after his brother Sean’s defeat to Amado Vargas, he uploaded a video revealing he would be his main coach for the rematch and that he would put the rehab plan on hold.

“It’s obviously wrong, but I don’t see Ryan being racist. I just don’t. I don’t feel it. I don’t see it, and that’s why I want to talk to him. I want to get to the bottom of it and make the right decision because, like I said, if I throw fuel on the fire, who knows what’s going to happen”, De La Hoya concluded.

It’s difficult to know what Ryan’s next step will be. It seems that everything may completely change from one day to the other with the Californian boxer.

During his brother Sean’s clash with Vargas, Ryan was escorted out of the arena by officials. After the incident, Garcia took to X to write about what happened.

“Skipped rehab for this s**t.” He followed up with another post: “It’s a damn joke you guys are weird Sean’s laughing as well. Stop with everyone soft s**t. Everyone is f**king charmin ultra nowadays.”