King Ryan is Back

Ryan Garcia announced on Tuesday that he’d be getting back in action in October in Los Angeles. The popular 22-year-old ‘King’ Ryan will be coming off of a nine-month layoff to face a still to be determined opponent on DAZN.

Ryan has been dealing with mental health issues recently, and it’s gotten in the way of him staying active. However, he says he’s ready to return to action, so it appears he’s got everything together on the mental health side of things, ss one would expect, many boxing fans doubt that Ryan Garcia ever had any mental health problems they think he came up with that excuse to squirm out of a dangerous WBC lightweight title eliminator against Javier Fortuna. Since there’s no way of knowing whether Ryan truly had mental health problems or not, you have to take what he says at face value.

One potential option for the former WBC interim lightweight champion Ryan (21-0, 18 KOs) is Joseph  ‘Jo Jo’ Diaz Jr. (32-1-1, 15 KOs) has already made it know that he wants to fight him next.

If Ryan faces Diaz Jr. in October, it’ll infuriate Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, who was hoping that Jo Jo would face his fighter WBC 135-lb champion Devin Haney next.

Hearn would have a reason to be upset if Ryan and Diaz Jr fight, as both of them won WBC ordered lightweight title eliminators, and yet neither of them have chosen to use the mandatory status to challenge Haney for his belt.

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya hasn’t mentioned who Ryan could face for his October fight. He’ll likely go with the idea of Ryan taking on the 28-year-old former IBF super featherweight champion ‘Jo Jo’ Diaz Jr despite him having a huge advantage in experience both at the amateur and professional level than King Ryan.

By Jeff Aronow