Star fighter Ryan Garcia stated Friday that the New York State Athletic Commission desires him to go through a psychological health assessment ahead of his April 20 WBC junior welterweight title fight against Devin Haney in Brooklyn.
In a since-deleted video published to social networks, Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs) stated the commission notified him the assessment demand surrounded his posts on social networks.
“Is it not my U.S. constitutional right to have complimentary speech?” Garcia stated in the video. “So due to the fact that I’m tweeting what I’m tweeting, that’s facilities for a psychological assessment? That’s curious.”
Garcia has actually made a list of eyebrow-raising social networks posts over the previous couple of weeks, varying from conspiracy theories to claims he has proof of the presence of extraterrestrials.
Matthew Delaglio, director of boxing for the commission, decreased to comment.
“As holds true with all Golden Boy battles, we remain in close contact with the commission and approving bodies and will naturally follow any and all guidelines and guidelines to guarantee our fighters are prepared on fight night,” Golden Boy Promotions spokesperson Stefan Friedman informed ESPN.
Hall of Fame fighter Oscar De La Hoya, the creator of Golden Boy and Garcia’s promoter, dealt with Garcia’s status throughout DAZN’s broadcast of the William Zepeda-Maxi Hughes fight on Saturday night.
“Ryan Garcia, I simply spoke with him. He’s in terrific spirits,” De La Hoya stated. “He’s working his ass off in the health club. Don’t mind the posts — that takes like 5, 10 seconds of his time. He’s striving every minute of the day.”
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman stated Friday that he is “in direct talks with the New York commission” concerning Garcia.
Garcia suffered his very first expert defeat last April when he was dropped in Round 7 by Gervonta Davis. The superfight produced more than 1 million pay-per-view buys, an uncommon task for a boxing occasion.
Garcia rebounded with an eighth-round knockout success over Oscar Duarte in December. The fight was Garcia’s initially with fitness instructor Derrick James. Garcia has actually been performing training school with James in Dallas ahead of the 140-pound title obstacle of Haney.
Haney (31-0, 15 KOs), 25, is ESPN’s No. 1 junior welterweight and No. 6 pound-for-pound fighter. He won the WBC title in December with a nothing choice win over Regis Prograis.
Garcia is ESPN’s No. 8 fighter at 140 pounds. He has more than 10 million Instagram fans and is going for his very first world title against Haney.
In the summer season of 2021, Garcia withdrew from a bout with Javier Fortuna to “handle my health and wellness.”
