Ryan Garcia Claims He Fought Friend Bare-Knuckle Days After Conor Benn Matchup
Ryan Garcia claims that he got into a bare-knuckle scuffle with his friend who was talking too much. The boxer had to set his friend straight.
Just when you think Ryan Garcia has hit peak chaos, the boxing superstar finds a way to top himself. Fresh off a destructive second-round TKO victory over Conor Benn to retain his WBC welterweight title in Las Vegas, Garcia revealed that his toughest physical test of the weekend did not actually take place inside the squared circle. Instead, it went down inside a hotel room during an unscripted, spontaneous bare-knuckle brawl with one of his own friends.
Garcia's performance against Benn at Zuffa Boxing was about as dominant as it gets. Expanding his professional record to 26-2 with 20 knockouts, the 28-year-old flash-fast knockout artist needed less than five minutes to handle business. He dropped Benn with a thunderous right hand before the referee stepped in at 1:25 of the second round. Garcia took virtually zero damage during the brief championship defense, showcasing the explosive counter-punching and fight-ending precision that make him one of combat sports' biggest box-office attractions.
A Wild Hotel Room Scuffle
However, the post-fight celebration took a bizarre turn less than 24 hours later. Appearing on The Ariel Helwani Show, Garcia admitted he actually suffered more wear and tear on his right hand trading bare-knuckle punches with a friend than he did against a world-class welterweight challenger in front of thousands of fans.
“I hurt my hand more-so fighting someone on Sunday night,” Garcia explained. “The homie wanted that work, I still had energy so I said let's get it. We just started brawling in the room. Yeah, we was both lit, and he wanted that work, so I gave him it. Bare-knuckle. , but he wanted the smoke, though. Who won? Come on now… Easy work.”
Despite showing off scraped and bruised knuckles from the hotel room brawl, Garcia reassured fight fans that the damage was strictly cosmetic. "Yeah, of course. A couple of little scratches," Garcia noted. "It's all good." He insisted the scuffle will not derail his timeline for a potential December ring return, where rumors are already swirling about a high-profile matchup against WBA super welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez.
Leave it to Garcia to walk away completely unscathed from a high-stakes world title defense, only to put his hands on the line in an unscripted hotel scrap hours later.
