The rising star of boxing Ryan Garcia hung out with retired legend Floyd Mayweather on several occasions. Back in January this year, ‘KingRy’ even went on a run with Mayweather on the streets of Las Vegas. This friendly relationship brewing between the two poured gasoline on the already fierce rivalry between Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions. It even raised concerns about the relationship between Garcia and his promoter Oscar De La Hoya being permanently fractured.
De La Hoya and Mayweather are long-time foes, and their bad blood dates back to their contentious fight in 2007. The former six-division world champion suspected foul play when Garcia was spotted with his nemesis, Mayweather, so many times. He warned ‘Money’ against having an influence on Garcia’s business decisions by acting as his promoter. In response, ‘KingRy’ came to Mayweather’s defense, claiming that he was just ‘mentoring’ him. In that context, De La Hoya didn’t mind Floyd giving tips to improve Garcia’s in-ring skills. However, after spending time working out, and training together, Garcia claimed in a recent X Spaces conversation that he’d knock out Mayweather.
Ryan Garcia believes he’d dominate ‘prime’ Floyd Mayweather
In a conversation on X, Ryan Garcia was asked who he believed, among the classic boxers, that he’d knock out in their prime. His options were Mike Tyson, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Floyd Patterson. Well, Garcia ignored the list and claimed that he’d knock ‘prime’ Floyd Mayweather out in a boxing fight.
Garcia said, “I honestly in their prime, I believe I could knock out Floyd Mayweather.” Well, this shocked the person who asked the question, since he took the name of Floyd Patterson, while Garcia misheard it to be Floyd Mayweather. Still, this shocked the panel, considering that he seemed to have a great relationship with ‘Money’.
The rift in their friendship might have been caused by Mayweather instigating Garcia to fight Rolly Romero which did not materialize eventually.
Garcia admits to being influenced by Floyd Mayweather
Before booking the Haney fight, Garcia skimmed through a plethora of opponents. When negotiations were all but finalized with Devin Haney, a meeting with his inner circle and a chat with the legendary Floyd Mayweather Jr. sent his initial plans of fighting Haney for a toss.
He stated, “I’m in Vegas, I’m having a great time, I’m hanging out with Floyd… Floyd’s pretty influential, he’s like ‘Why would you do that, why don’t you you fight Rolly for the belt and then fight Devin Haney?’… And then I made a quick decision, I said ‘Floyd, that makes sense, I’ll go get another belt’.”
In the end, Rolly Romero ended up choosing Isaac Cruz over Ryan Garcia, and Garcia had to fall back to fighting Devin Haney.
What are your thoughts about the dynamics between Garcia and Mayweather? Let us know in the comments section.
