What’s Next For Ryan Garcia?

Ryan Garcia lost to Rolando Romero as the latter became the WBA Regular Welterweight Champion, raising questions about Ryan’s next steps. 

It was a massive setback for Garcia, who had been out of the sport for over a year following his last performance against Devin Haney. His majority decision victory over Haney was turned into a no-contest after Ryan failed VADA tests for Ostarine. While he denied taking any substances intentionally, he ultimately received a year ban from the New York State Athletic Commission. 

He is now unlikely to rematch Devin Haney in his next fight. Haney’s camp argued that the presence of Ostarine meant that things were not on an even playing field. Even during the build-up for the Romero fight, Haney’s camp commented on Garcia’s apparent slender physique and his change of voice, fuelling speculation that this may have been due to the presence of PEDs. Ryan has backed himself to beat Haney again, as that would be the biggest fight. However, his loss and Haney’s win over Jose Ramirez means it is not as big.

Garcia’s Options

Alternatively, there is an opportunity to face off against Conor Benn. Benn is coming off the first loss of his career against Chris Eubank, Jr. He jumped up from 154 pounds to take the fight at 160. Although he came up short, he did show a lot of determination to hang in with Eubank, making it a contender for fight of the year. Benn does have the opportunity to rematch Eubank, but if he decides to come back down in weight, 147 is the natural move. 

Garcia could also face Romero in a rematch. He has now been in the ring with him, having tasted his power. Romero dropped Ryan in the second round, but Garcia was not hurt enough, even if he was gunshy. The risk for Ryan is that if he loses to Rolly again, it will take a massive amount to rebuild his career.

Garcia had previously mentioned facing off against Jaron Ennis. Boots unified the division by stopping Eimantas Stanionis in his last fight to become the WBA, IBF and Ring Magazine Welterweight Champion. It would be easy to make since Golden Boy and Matchroom both air their fights on DAZN. However, Ryan is in no form to take a fight of this magnitude, as he has a lot of soul-searching to do.