San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Garcia wins bout with mental health issues
Ryan Garcia’s record shows 21 wins in 21 fights, with 18 knockouts against the likes of Romero Duno, Francisco Fonseca and Luke Campbell.
But the biggest victory of Garcia’s career — and life — may have been the one he earned outside the ring.
Garcia, 23, who is scheduled to meet Emmanuel Tagoe (32-1, 15 KOs) in a 12-round lightweight bout Saturday at the Alamodome, made headlines this past year when he battled mental health issues, forcing him to withdraw from a fight.
He joins a list high-profile athletes — gymnast Simone
Biles, tennis player Naomi Osaka and swimmer Michael Phelps — who have been forthcoming about their much-publicized struggles with mental health.
But Garcia in particular raised eyebrows with his admission, prompting him to step away from the sport to “manage my health and well-being” before a July 2021 fight against Javier Fortuna.
Garcia is a boxer and boxers are expected to be “tough guys,” recognized for their bravery and unfazed by emotional or psychological troubles confronted by athletes in other sports.
Garcia posted on social media, where he has nearly 9 million followers on Instagram, that he had “decided to take some time off to focus on becoming a stronger version of myself.”
The criticism he received from some of his fans, who
questioned his heart and toughness, was swift and harsh.
Then a wrist injury later that same year suffered during training forced him to pull out of another fight, adding to his depression.
He admitted to thoughts of suicide.
“Everything came tumbling down on me mentally,” Garcia said. “It was a hard time in my life. It got really dark … to the point I didn’t know if I wanted to live anymore.”
In other interviews, Garcia recounted the time he reached his breaking point. It came one day in the gym while training
with then-stablemate Canelo Alvarez.
“I just burst out crying for no reason in front of everybody and I ran from the gym,” said Garcia of Los Angeles,. “Canelo and everybody was there. I just couldn’t hold it in.”
With the criticism came waves of support. Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions came to his fighter’s defense.
For more than a decade, De La Hoya was the face of boxing, a charismatic figure who drew huge crowds wherever he went.
“Dealing with family, dealing with fans and now social media, it can be brutal,” De La Hoya
said. “Those mental health challenges have always been there, but we just never talked about it. A lot of athletes, a lot of fighters deal with it in a variety of ways. For me, I went straight to the bottle. But Ryan did it the right way, the healthy way. He went to a therapist. He got help. Now he can talk about it.”
San Antonio boxing legend “Jesse” James Leija understands the pressure boxers face. During a pro career that spanned 17 years, Leija fought many of the sport’s biggest names of his era.
He acknowledges he would have been laughed out of the gym had he opted out of any of his showdowns with Azumah Nelson for mental health reasons, but now, thankfully, things have changed somewhat.
“We’ve come a long way, but not far enough,” Leija said. There’s still a stigma with regards to athletes and mental health, he said.
Garcia said he’s conquered most of his demons and is much stronger as a result of the work he’s put in.
“I’m going to keep being an inspiration for people that are struggling,” he said.
Garcia vs. Tagoe tickets a hot item
Ticket sales for Saturday’s card at the Alamodome featuring Garcia vs. Tagoe reportedly have been brisk.
“We’ve had a terrific advance and there’s a lot of momentum” heading into fight week, said Lester Bedford, site coordinator for the event. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it did 15,000-20,000 (in sales).”
Local fighter added to Alamodome card
Saturday’s undercard will feature a little local flavor as undefeated San Antonio super bantamweight Gregory “Goyo” Morales (13-0, 8 KOs) is scheduled to meet Katsuma Akitsugi (8-0, 1 KO) of Japan in an eightround bout.
“It’s my first fight in my hometown in like, three years,” Morales, 23, said. “So I’m very excited about it. It’s a big moment.”