Ryan Garcia’s fight against Devin Haney may be in jeopardy. Fellow lightweight boxer Shakur Stevenson has offered to replace Garcia to fight Haney and Shaquille O’Neal is up for the fight. A man of many tastes, NBA legend O’Neal is a combat sports fan and watches boxing as well as MMA from time to time. Shaq recently posted a video from MyMixTapez on his Instagram story which stated that Stevenson offered to be the replacement fighter for ‘KingRy’.
For the uninitiated, a lot has been going on with Ryan Garcia ahead of his bout. Garcia recently called out the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) saying he would sue them. He claims that the NYSAC asked him for a mental evaluation based on his tweets and stories on X as well as on Instagram. Garcia clapped back saying it is his constitutional right to free speech.
‘KingRy’ now claims he will be suing the NYSAC for defamation of character because of their comments. The lightweight boxer is set to fight Devin Haney in April this year. However, with all the controversy surrounding him, doubts about the fight are starting to loom large. Ryan Garcia’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya has come out and spoken about his fighter’s mental condition. Comforting his fans, the ‘Golden Boy’ has asked fans not to worry about Garcia.
Oscar De La Hoya gives an update on Ryan Garcia’s training camp and tells fans not to worry
Oscar De La Hoya is the CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, the company that Ryan Garcia fights under. The pair are pretty close despite a few ups and downs in their relationship. During the recent William Zepeda vs. Maxi Hughes fight, per Mike Coppinger, De La Hoya spoke to Chris Mannix about Garcia saying,
“Ryan Garcia … he’s in great spirits. He’s working his ass off in the gym. Don’t mind the posts, that takes like five, 10 seconds of his time. He’s working hard every single minute of the day.”
Oscar De La Hoya claims that Ryan Garcia’s outlandish tweets and videos are not something fans should worry about. He claims it is not affecting his training. The lightweight boxer is still in training camp for his fight against Devin Haney and the fight is still on as of this moment.
