Ryan García rolls out of bed in the middle of the morning in Los Angeles. He is shirtless, his hair is tousled and he is very sleepy as he logs on for our interview. García, of course, still looks like a multi-million dollar pin-up and, as he smiles and says hello with a lazy wave, it is easy to understand why the 24-year-old has 9.6m followers on Instagram.
His bare chest is covered in tattoos and his voice is husky with sleep as he says, “I’m pretty dazed right now. But I’m here.”
The biggest fight in boxing this year is almost here as well.
García has done all his hard training and is ready for the dangerous and intense battle he will face in Las Vegas on Saturday against the formidable Gervonta Davis. Both these gifted but often haunted men are unbeaten, having won all 51 of their combined fights, and they meet each other in the prime of their careers – in a catchweight bout at 136 pounds, one pound over the lightweight limit as García is the bigger man and usually fights at super-lightweight.
This is the fight boxing needs so desperately amid a terrible spell for the sport.
One big bout after another has disappeared as promoters and fighters squabble over money, the sanctioning bodies are as rotten and ineffectual as ever, the shadow of doping deepens and stretches across the ring and it even seems as if Daniel Kinahan, the alleged drug cartel leader who is being hunted by the FBI and law enforcement agencies from Ireland and the rest of Europe, is still actively involved in boxing. The fight business seems bleaker than ever.
Davis v García, somehow, still got made. This is a fight that fulfils all logic, suggesting that the sport would thrive if the best boxers could just get on with displaying their courage and talent between the ropes, while providing the tantalising thrill of the unknown.
Davis is the bookmakers’ favourite but an unpredictable current ripples through a contest in which both men carry serious knockout power. A squat and powerful 28-year-old from Baltimore, Davis can be devastating. His nickname is Tank but he is yet to be truly tested in the ring. Sadly, however, he is troubled in life. Early next month, Davis will be back in a Baltimore courthouse after he pleaded guilty to a hit-and-run incident that injured four people in November 2020. His personal life has long been clouded by violence and infamy.
García, at the same time, has struggled with his mental health, which is unsurprising when he is locked in a business as ravaging as boxing. He is often dismissed as “an Instagram fighter” and to some, his good looks and the polished documentation of his life on social media undermine his attributes in the ring.
But García has fast hands, concussive power and far more grit than his doubters believe. He is also thoughtful and perceptive – even 10 minutes after waking up.
It is to García’s immense credit that, on the cusp of the defining fight of his life, he does not shy away from confronting the ghosts of his and Davis’s past and explains why they often struggle with depression.
“We’re going into a ring in front of millions of people, putting our reputations on the line, and getting hit in the head,” García says quietly. “Of course you’re going to experience some mental health issues and that needs to be addressed way more. This is not normal. We’re not supposed to be doing this so it’s going to cause some mental health issues.”
García looks intently at the screen, his hands making fluttery shapes in front of the inky tattoos on his chest as he talks with fluidity and fire.
“We need to care for our fighters, especially the ones that are entertaining all of us. So I think I helped other fighters become more open in speaking about their mental health issues.”
Does talking about doubt and depression help García himself? “Of course – while always paying attention to myself every day and making sure that I’m keeping in balance.
“The more you hold it in, the more you’re going to act out. You’ve seen boxers act out and make bad decisions because they haven’t addressed their mental health issues. If you don’t, it bottles up inside and you end up making bad decisions. So it’s like a broken arm. You’ve got to give it the same attention because, before you know it, you could fall into a very bad place.”
García ended up in that dark hole soon after the best win of his career. In January 2021, having been knocked down in round two, he rose from the canvas to stop Luke Campbell, who won Olympic gold at London 2012.
Campbell proved García was vulnerable but he was swept away by the resolve and force of the younger man. Yet García spiralled down soon afterwards.
“Yeah,” he says gently, rubbing his face as if to comfort himself, “it happened right after Luke Campbell, which is one of my biggest highlights. I had a huge response from everybody but I had fallen into deep depression, deep anxiety and it tormented me for three or four months.
“I didn’t know if I was ever going to box again. I chose to speak about the things I was going through and then I started that journey of recovery and healing myself.
“I had to claw my way back into that ring. But at the time, yeah, it all came crashing down for me. I had to fight myself and got back to where I’m at now.”
At his lowest, in early 2021, García felt so broken that, as he says now, he was engulfed by “suicidal thoughts and contemplating if I was going to take my life. I was that low”.
Therapy helped him but García shakes his head when I ask if he still sees a counsellor.
“I don’t any more but I always have these mental things I do every day, whether saying a mantra in my head or just knowing my trigger. I go through that whole process of figuring out what’s the cause of [a dip on his mood] and I do a lot of things, mentally, to keep myself in tune.”
What does García see when he looks into the belligerent face of Davis? “I sense a lot of doubt in him. I think he doesn’t really know how to handle the moment as well as me. He’s still very immature in his mind and it shows when we come face to face. I don’t intentionally try to get under his skin but he gets pretty riled up really quick and takes things very personal. That shows he’s very immature.”
García believes that the turbulent emotions swirling through Davis may affect him on Saturday night. “For sure. I could see him getting mad even if I do a little talking. It’ll piss him off. If you’ve seen a lot of his fights, you know he’s looking around, talking to people in the crowd. That shows his lack of focus.”
And yet, as Davis showed in his crushing knockouts of Rolando “Rolly” Romero last year and, especially, Léo Santa Cruz in October 2020, he possesses frightening power. “Yeah,” García says with a nod, “but Santa Cruz is a very small guy who was 122 [pounds] at the start of his career. He’s very fragile but he was doing pretty well with Gervonta which was very surprising. Yes, Gervonta knocked him out but isn’t that what he’s supposed to do to a guy from a lighter weight class who had been in too many wars? Santa Cruz wasn’t even a power puncher in his own weight class.
“If you don’t look at that truth then of course you’re going to be afraid. Of course you’re going to look at that one punch. But if he has so much power why didn’t he knock out Isaac Cruz [in December 2021] who is also very small? The same guys he knocked out cold wouldn’t fight me. Léo Santa Cruz wouldn’t fight me. Yuriorkis Gamboa [whom Davis stopped in 2019] wouldn’t fight me. I asked him to fight so I could compare me and Davis but he wouldn’t. That shows you something.”
García says “Davis is overconfident. He thinks that he can just walk in and take these shots and nothing’s going to hurt him. But I have real power and, when you’re prepared, you don’t get over emotional. I know I have a great game plan so, for me, there is no worry.”
But this will be, surely, the most intense fight García has ever experienced? He smiles unexpectedly. “I think it was more exciting for my buildup with Luke Campbell. This guy looks devastating on paper but I’m just not worried about him. I’ve never really struggled against fighters like him [who are shorter and smaller than García].”
The veracity of that seemingly casual statement will be examined in brutal detail in Las Vegas. Davis, who looks like he was put on earth to fight, is unlike any opponent García has faced before. At the same time, Davis has never shared a ring with a boxer who can hit as hard as García. The uncertainty and the danger adds to a riveting contest which could lift boxing out of its pit of corruption and despair.
García, the complex fighter who calls himself King Ry, thinks long and hard on a hushed Friday morning. All the heat and fury of sharing a ring with Davis can wait, for a little while longer, as he describes the “higher purpose” that drives him. “The reason I box is different to when I was growing up,” he says, with his sleepy reflection replaced by a blazing urgency. “For me it’s just bigger than boxing. I’m searching for purpose, I’m searching for something deeper than just a boxing match. The reason I train, and then step into that ring, is deeper than just boxing. I don’t really care about boxing. I care about being the best I can be. I care about pushing for a higher purpose. I’m here to impact people in a much deeper and loving way outside of boxing.”
Will such noble thoughts help him during the storm of fighting “Tank” Davis? “Yeah,” he says with a long exhale. “That gives me the biggest advantage because I’m not boxing for my own glory. I’m boxing for something bigger. I’m not afraid to tell people the things I’ve discovered on this journey of truth. This journey that takes you to a far place deep in your mind. I’m here to really document my experience and I know I can find meaning in even the smallest things I go through. I’m not a coward in or out of the ring. I’m going to be brave in talking about all I’ve experienced and discovered. And maybe I can help some kid or even an older person going through something difficult in their normal lives.”
García looks very serious before suddenly, even gloriously, he says, laughing. “And, yeah, I’m gonna beat Gervonta Davis, too.”
• In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 988 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
