After almost a year of hiatus away from the boxing ring, Ryan Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) made a striking start to 2021 courtesy of a 7th round TKO victory over Luke Campbell on 2nd January, to win the vacant WBC interim lightweight title.
The next few weeks saw Garcia vocally expressing his desire to fight Manny Pacquiao, and also etched a verbal rivalry against Gervonta Davis, whom Garcia vowed to knockout within two rounds.
Although Garcia did not earn a fight against Pacquiao or Davis, on 13th April his next fight was announced, and he was slated to defend his interim status against Javier Fortuna (36-2-1, 25 KOs) on 9th July, a fight which would determine the challenger WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney later this year.
However, the fight against Fortuna was called off on 24th April after Garcia revealed he was dealing with mental troubles and withdrew from the bout to “focus on becoming a stronger version” of himself.
Since then, Garcia was not in the limelight for sometime, until Canelo Alvarez registered a staggering win over Billy Joe Saunders last Saturday and unified the WBC, WBA (Super) and WBO super middleweight belts.
Ryan Garcia wants to “destroy” his “bag of anxiety”
Seeing his sparring partner and former Golden Boy fighter’s prowess in the ring has seemingly boosted Ryan Garcia’s confidence and hardened his mentality, as “King Ryan” has finally dropped some good news for his fanbase.
On Instagram, Garcia shared a clip of his training drill, along with a caption that indicated that the 22-year-old is indeed on the path to becoming a better version of himself, as he compared his anxiety to a punching bag.
Thank you to everyone showing there (their) support!” Garcia’s post on Instagram read, “with the help of my support team and my family, I’m making steps forward.“
“Why anxiety and depression hit me like a truck and why I’m still recovering I’ll never know. But I’m trying to cope with the issues I’m having! This bag is my anxiety and I’m swinging with my full intent to destroy it!! 😤🥊 ” he added.
Although his Fortuna fight is called off, Ryan Garcia can still get his promotional company to recall the fight, but the WBC interim champion can easily look forward to bigger opportunities and a direct title fight against Haney is also a likely option.
