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Exclusive: Ryan Garcia’s Father Sees His Son Being ‘More Focused’ For Romero Fight

Originally posted on Fights Around The World
By Abraham Gonzalez | Last updated Apr 29, 2025 5:56 PM ET

According to Henry Garcia, the father of boxing star Ryan Garcia, his son is more prepared for battle this time around than a year ago against Devin Haney.

During a Golden Boy Promotions media workout in San Diego, CA, Henry Garcia spoke to FightsATW about his son Ryan and how he is in a much better place. Henry, being always in a positive mood, did not hesitate to boast about how proud he was of his son and the things he had done to get to the place he was currently in, mentally and physically.

“He was more focused in his preparation,” said Henry, on the difference between the Haney camp and this one. “We did exactly what we were supposed to do and are on time with everything.” This is contrary to the wild and, at times, awkward actions by Ryan in the lead-up to the Haney fight in April 2024. Garcia would go on a social media rant that lasted about two months, with him claiming things from the Illuminati to seeing aliens and taking videos with multiple women, all while clowning around in Dallas, TX, at Derrick James’ gym. On the Friday before the fight, Garcia would miss weight, which added to the drama of it all. On fight night, Garcia would knock down Haney three times on his way to a majority decision; at least, that’s what we thought.

Afterward, it was revealed that Garcia tested positive for the Performance Enhancing Drug (PED) Ostarine, sending social media into a frenzy. Garcia would say that his pre-fight antics were staged to make him look unprepared and throw off Haney. He also mentioned that he didn’t knowingly take any PEDs. After the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) suspended Garcia for a year and changed the result to a no-contest, Haney took Garcia to civil court and sought out damages while using the NYSAC suspension decision as the foundation for the suit. Garcia would stay off social media until the moment came when he needed to come back to it.

The situation was getting ugly between Garcia and Haney, but boxing’s newest savior made it all right. The Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority for Saudi Arabia, Turki Alalshikh, would insert himself into the situation, making Haney drop the suit while agreeing to the fight card in Times Square and a Haney-Garcia 2 fight in the fall. Garcia appeared in a better state of mind once he began making public appearances to promote the Times Square event. This looks to be the result of some reflection being done behind the scenes.

Garcia worked on himself privately when he was off social media, which his father, Henry, felt did wonders for his son. “When you take time off, you have a lot of things to think about, Henry told FightsATW. “He regrouped his whole persona in life and family. I think it was something that was needed. Now that he is here, you can see he is more alert, focused, and in tune with what his job is.”

Garcia reunited with trainer James for this fight, and although most would assume that Garcia was in Dallas for training camp, Henry said that the majority of the time was spent in Southern California. “Most of the workouts were done here in San Diego,” said Henry. With his son back with James but remaining where he is most comfortable, will we see a better version of Garcia or worse because he was filled with the distractions of having a training camp at home? We are just days away from Friday’s historic card in the middle of Times Square in NYC, where we find out which version of Garcia we will get against the hard-hitting Rolando “Rolly” Romero on DAZN PPV.

This article first appeared on Fights Around The World and was syndicated with permission.

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