By Tommy Gray: Ryan Garcia says he’s “recharged” and ready to resume his career after licking the anxiety problem that recently sidelined him.
Unfortunately, the unbeaten lightweight contender ‘King’ Ryan (21-0, 18 KOs) won’t be back in time to face his previously scheduled opponent Javier Fortuna on July 9th.
Joseph ‘Jo Jo’ Diaz (31-1-1, 15 KOs) is already scheduled to battle Fortuna in the main event on that date on DAZN.
Ryan Garcia, 22, is still dealing with a huge backlash from boxing fans for pulling out of his fight with #3 WBC Fortuna, as they feel that he got cold feet at the idea of facing the experienced former 130-lb world champion.
For Ryan to show fans that he’s not having anxiety issues about fighting high-caliber opposition, he needs to fight the best possible opponent for when he does return to the ring.
It’s not as if Ryan has been out of the ring for a long time or that he’s coming off an injury. Ryan last fought in January, stopping Luke Campbell in the seventh round.
Ryan Garcia needs to fight a top 5 contender to show his doubters that he’s NOT suffering from a failure of nerves.
Right now, the belief that many boxing fans have is that Ryan was too afraid to fight Fortuna, so he canceled the fight and came up with the anxiety thing as an excuse.
The fans wouldn’t have doubted Ryan if he hadn’t already swerved fights against Devin Haney and Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. Those were both guys that Ryan should have fought, but he chose not to for some reason.
King Ry is recharged 🔋 pic.twitter.com/mrbrRlbshE
— ESPN Ringside (@ESPNRingside) June 29, 2021
Ryan Garcia coming back with a vengeance
“As you guys know, I had to call off my fight in July [against Javier Fortuna],” said Ryan Garcia on his YouTube channel. “It was super tough for me to walk away from the sport at the time.
“I had just won my fight against Luke Campbell. It was a decision that took everything out of me, but I knew I had to take that route. I was in a dark place, and you can’t go into a fight in the right mental.
“As we know, boxing is 85% mental. So I had to do it, take some time. Anxiety is something that can make you feel a lot of things, things that are unexplained. It can trip you up.
“When I come back, and I am coming back soon, I’m coming back with a vengeance. The same kind of furiousness that I had, it’s going to be amplified.
“I go for knockouts; I go to put people to sleep. I’m ready to bring excitement back into the sport. I’m not only coming back for myself; I’m coming back to fight for you guys.
“This thing tried to defeat me, but it didn’t. Now I’m about to knock it out with another body shot. I might hit this with a headshot. This thing needs to go away,” said Ryan Garcia.
