ONTARIO, California – Oscar De La Hoya on Saturday expanded on his recent post on X condemning the racist comments of his suspended fighter Ryan Garcia, explaining that the rehab-bound Garcia is “in a bad, bad place now – really bad.
“We don’t condone any racism. It’s just wrong,” De La Hoya told video reporters Friday of Garcia posting vicious comments toward the late victim of police violence, George Floyd.
“I heard Ryan’s going to rehab. It’s a step in the right direction.”
Garcia, 25, has behaved erratically for months, throughout the promotion of his April 20 fight against WBC lightweight titleholder Devin Haney in Brooklyn, New York, and afterward, when he submitted three positive tests for the banned performance-enhancing substance ostarine and the New York State Athletic Commission changed his impressive three-knockdown triumph to a no-contest.
Garcia (24-1) was also fined $10,000 by New York, forced to return his guaranteed purse money and suspended until at least April 20, 2025.
“I know Ryan. He is not a racist guy. He is not that,” De La Hoya said. “… I don’t know if it’s his drinking or him doing mushrooms or drugs.”
De La Hoya, who has completed his own stints in rehab, said he had reached out to Garcia as recently as last week.
“He seems good. I told him, ‘You’re suspended, but there’s other things you can do,’” De La Hoya said. “I’ve always said I’m here for him.”
While De La Hoya has drawn some criticism for not intervening sooner given the multiple red flags that waved around Garcia – including the PED positives and the subsequent arrest for felony vandalism in Beverly Hills, California – he again supported Garcia on the matter of the WBC suspending Garcia from WBC activities.
In that move, WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman quoted Garcia’s parents expressing their own concerns for their son’s welfare.
“You have to gather all the information before you make such a decision,” De La Hoya said of the WBC. “I am no doctor. I want to talk to him and get to the bottom of it.”
While De La Hoya said he was pleased to see Garcia post that he has split with his longtime manager Guadalupe Valencia – “It’s about time. He was a bad communicator,” De La Hoya said – he speculates that Garcia is surrounded by a troubling circle of friends and acquaintances.
“When he’s around people, taking something, drinking, I can see Ryan going along with it,” De La Hoya said. “Ryan needs to look at his circle and get rid of everybody.”
As for his own lessons of rehab, De La Hoya said, “Other people wanting to send me – it never worked. You feel sorry for yourself, feel people are against you.
“What [Garcia is apparently doing] to check himself into rehab is a good thing. You’ve got to go yourself.”
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