Ryan Garcia went from possibly having the best 2024 of any high-level boxer, to having the worst 2024 of any boxer, maybe period. Garcia got another huge fight following his loss to Gervonta Davis in 2023, setting up a mega bout against Devin Haney in April. Garcia got everyone talking with an insane social media strategy leading up to the fight, then delivered a masterclass on fight night.
He didn’t take Haney’s belt due to weighing in over the limit, and then we found out why that happened. Garcia got popped for using an illegal substance, watching as the biggest win of his career got stripped away and being handed a one-year suspension. Since then, Garcia has continued to act somewhat concerningly. He hasn’t made disturbing social media posts like he did leading up to the Haney fight, but his posts are still questionable to say the least.
While he waits to be reinstated from suspension, Garcia struck up a deal for an exhibition bout against Rukiya Anpo, a Japanese kickboxer. Slated for the end of December, the fight is now up in the air due to Garcia’s promotion company, Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, not signing off on the go-ahead yet.
Rukiya Anpo oversleeps and misses Ryan Garcia press conference
As if that didn’t make the fight a bit of a farce, Garcia’s opponent took it up a notch on Tuesday. With a press conference scheduled to build up hype for the fight, Anpo literallly didn’t show up. RIZIN CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara explained the reasoning behind Anpo’s absence.
So I’m not too thrilled to make this my first statement, but today we were supposed to have Anpo here but he overslept and missed his flight… but he is on his way to Tokyo as far as I hear. It’s a great press conference that we have scheduled, the United States and Japan, everybody’s here but the fighter.
Anpo ended up trying to defend himself, claiming that he was “pissed off” that Garcia wasn’t in Japan to do the press conference in person. Garcia was present via a video feed instead. Anpo said “at least I’m in Japan“.
Apparently Garcia not making the trip bothered Anpo, so he decided to go back to sleep. It shows a lack of professionalism, and puts in question the credibility of the whole event.
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