Ryan Garcia isn't retiring ... the boxing superstar tells TMZ Sports he won't give his detractors the satisfaction. So, when his one-year suspension run ends, King Ry will be back in the squared circle!
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00:00Welcome back to TMZ Sports, Mike and Mojo.
00:08Mojo, boxing is coming a little foreshadowing here, Mojo.
00:12Question is, will Ryan Garcia be boxing in the future?
00:16Remember, it was just last week that the 25-year-old boxing
00:20superstar said that the sport's too corrupt,
00:23and I'm done fighting.
00:24I am retiring, even though we know, obviously,
00:27he's one of the biggest stars in the entire sport.
00:29Now, of course, that announcement from Ryan
00:32came after we found out that the New York State Athletic
00:35Commission had banned him for a year
00:38after he tested positive for a banned substance.
00:40Not only that, they made him give back over a million bucks,
00:43Mojo, in his purse money.
00:45They fined him $10,000.
00:47And maybe, most importantly for Ryan,
00:50they took away his win against Devin Haney.
00:53So technically, on paper, he did not beat Haney.
00:55It was a no contest.
00:57Question is, is Ryan actually retired?
01:00I think a lot of people didn't believe him,
01:03but it's what he was saying.
01:05We've got some clarification, Mojo,
01:06because we actually ran into Ryan Garcia
01:10just a couple of days ago,
01:11shopping with his daughter in Los Angeles,
01:14and we asked him that very question.
01:17I want to get your reaction to being banned.
01:19I mean, I'm sorry to hear about it,
01:20but I want to get your, I mean,
01:22how have you been feeling about being banned for a year?
01:24It must hurt.
01:25He does, he's a B, and his daddy's a B.
01:29The only reason I'm not cursing is because my daughters do.
01:32Okay, that's good.
01:33I mean, you announced that you're retiring.
01:35Are you actually retiring, or?
01:38I'm retiring for a year.
01:39Okay.
01:40So they don't get a satisfaction, whatever.
01:42Satisfaction.
01:43There you go.
01:44Or for suspending me, because it's ****.
01:47I never took steroids in my life.
01:49It all sucks.
01:51Okay, I mean, you kind of brought up MMA.
01:53Have you talked to anyone
01:54about maybe taking an MMA fight?
01:58I like Sugar Sean, because he defended me,
02:00but if he really wants to run in the UFC, I'll run in.
02:03Or bare knuckle.
02:05I'm ready to fight anybody at this point.
02:07Okay, all right.
02:08Well, thank you so much, Ryan.
02:09Thank you, God bless.
02:10Fighters fail drug tests all the time,
02:13and when you're talking about a first-time failure,
02:17I mean, a year seems a little extreme to me.
02:21I'm not gonna fight it too hard, right?
02:24You made a very costly mistake.
02:26That was what they deem a conscious mistake,
02:29so there's that, but it does seem a little extra.
02:33Maybe they're trying to get him to take a year off
02:35to clear his head because of everything
02:37that's going on outside of the ring,
02:39but it doesn't change the fact
02:40that he has been still getting it done inside the ring.
02:44He's been killing it.
02:45He's been on fire.
02:46I mean, granted, there's an asterisk next
02:47to that last fight because of what he took,
02:49but it hasn't affected what he's done in the ring
02:53or the amount of eyes and attention he's been able
02:56to bring to any fight that he's a part of,
02:59and in a lot of ways, that's number one above all else
03:02because at the end of the day,
03:03it's all about making money, right?
03:04So little surprised to see this,
03:08but now you start talking about what he's going to do
03:11on the outside of boxing.
03:13Well, I mean, the door's wide open, right?
03:15We see these celebrity super fights all the time,
03:18people coming over to box or bare knuckle,
03:21not typically to MMA.
03:23It's a completely different thing.
03:24Boxers going into MMA is almost never a good idea.
03:28It's just a completely different sport.
03:29So many ways to lose a fight there,
03:31but bare knuckle, a very, very interesting thing.
03:35I mean, I gotta think that makes perfect sense
03:37for Ryan Garcia.
03:38He doesn't really miss a beat going over to bare knuckle.
03:41That could be a lot of fun, and before you know it,
03:43that one year suspension is over and done with.
03:45Yeah, I think that's a good point, Mojo,
03:48and the thing I would say about the suspension is,
03:50and I haven't heard this straight
03:51from the commission's mouth,
03:52but in all likelihood, it's going to be backdated a bit.
03:56The fight was April 20th,
03:57so he will likely only be suspended until next April.
04:00You've got to realize we're already here in mid-June.
04:03Likely, if anything, would've fought one time
04:06before next April.
04:07So if anything, I think this just pushes back
04:09a potential fight in boxing for Ryan.
04:12I will say this about bare knuckle.
04:14I talked to David Feldman earlier today.
04:16He is the guy who not just founded the BKFC,
04:20but also still serves as the president.
04:22He's the one who just struck that deal
04:24with Conor McGregor to be a part owner of the organization.
04:26So he is the guy pulling the strains
04:28behind the scenes in BKFC.
04:30He says he absolutely is interested in making a fight
04:35with Ryan Garcia in bare knuckle.
04:36He said, we would not be able to do it in the states
04:39because the other commissions, other states,
04:42Nevada, California, New Jersey,
04:44they would not license Ryan
04:45because of his suspension in New York,
04:48but he would be able to get licensed overseas.
04:51And if he, again, if he is actually serious
04:53about taking a bare knuckle fight,
04:56David Feldman, BKFC, they've got fights for him
04:59and they will make this happen.
05:01So it's very possible that we do see Ryan Garcia
05:04sometime over the next couple of months.
05:06We'll be right back.