Ryan Garcia, a 25-year-old boxer who has been embattled of late for alarming social media posts, threatened to sue the New York State Athletic Commission after claiming they want a “mental evaluation” of him prior to his fight with Devin Haney on April 20 at Barclays Center.
Garcia’s latest social media rant showed him pacing a room while saying he wants to go to court against the NYSAC.
“I’m gonna sue the NYC commission and I’m saying this why?” he began his series of videos. “They’re trying to challenge me for a mental evaluation. I said, ‘OK, what is your premises [sic] for the mental evaluation?’ ‘Well, your tweets and posts.’ I said, ‘Is it not my U.S. constitutional right to have free speech?’ So, because I’m tweeting what I’m tweeting, that’s premises [sic] for a mental evaluation? That’s curious.
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Ryan Garcia leaves after a press event at Avalon Hollywood & Bardot on Feb. 29, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy/Getty Images)
“Now you’re trying to mess with my constitutional rights. Now I’m going to sue you. I’m going to sue for defamation of character actually.”
Garcia added that the commission “won’t test Mike Tyson if he fights in New York, but they will test me.”
“Sounds a little fishy to me,” he added. “And I love Mike. Mike loves me.
“Can not wait for them to ask me to take them to court because I will defeat them.”
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Members of the boxing community have called for this Garcia-Haney bout to be canceled due to Garcia’s behavior of late, saying he is unfit to fight. And the NYSAC has the jurisdiction to do so.
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman told talkSPORT.com he would “absolutely” consider intervening if the NYSAC tries to stop the super-lightweight world title fight.
“We’re in direct talks with the New York Commission where the fight is to take place. And, you know, social media, it is so good and it is so bad at the same time,” Sulaiman said.
Sulaiman added that he’s spoken with Garcia, saying, “I believe he will be in a position to fight but we are addressing the situation without a doubt.”
Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia face off at Avalon Hollywood & Bardot on Feb. 29, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy/Getty Images)
Switching gears, Garcia started another rant where he claims his “own therapist” told him he should be smoking weed. And though he was pronouncing it wrong, he also mentioned the therapist suggesting ayahuasca and mushrooms as well.
These Garcia social media posts have alarmed many and led to deactivation on numerous occasions since the beginning of the month. Many boxing fans have questioned whether he is in the right frame of mind.
It began on March 3 when a post scared fans with a disturbing video claiming he was dead. After dispelling that, Garcia was unhinged over the next few days with claims that he was raped by a family member when he was 2 years old, had proof of aliens, and was abducted by members of “Bohemian Grove” and was forced to watch child pornography as part of some ritual.
Garcia also predicted that an earthquake would destroy Hollywood and Las Vegas in the future, and he called billionaire Elon Musk the “Antichrist.” Garcia has also disturbingly said he’d bite off Haney’s ear during the fight, which is something Tyson infamously did to Evander Holyfield during a 1997 bout.
Garcia has said he was going to take a break from social media leading up to his fight with Haney, who he’s faced off against numerous times at the amateur level.
Ryan Garcia arrives at Palladium Times Square on Feb. 27, 2024, in New York City. (Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy/Getty Images)
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Garcia is 24-1 in his boxing career with 20 knockouts. His one loss came to Gervonta Davis in Las Vegas in February 2023, but he followed up that fight by knocking out Oscar Duarte.
The NYSAC did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
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