Boxing champion Claressa Shields didn’t mince words when discussing Ryan Garcia in a recent interview with Fight Hub TV, expressing her hope that Garcia’s upcoming opponent Rolando “Rolly” Romero would deliver a decisive victory against him.
“I’m hoping that Roley catch Ryan and put his damn lights out,”
Shields stated bluntly, before addressing the failed dr*g test that has clouded Garcia’s recent victory over Devin Haney.
The undefeated women’s boxing star took particular issue with how Garcia’s positive test for Ostarine has been downplayed in discussions about his performance against Haney.
“Ryan’s a dr*g che at, and he know he ch eated,”
Shields asserted.
“The world keeps saying, Devin didn’t get out of the way of a hook. He got hit with a ster*id hook. It’s like it wasn’t just a hook, it’s a ster*id hook.”
Shields’ criticism extended beyond Garcia’s professional conduct to his personal behavior, referencing controversial social media posts that Garcia made earlier this year.
“Ryan, disrespectful man, he’s a disrespectful kid,”
she continued.
“Everybody giving him a pass, no, he’s doing better and he went to rehab. He was saying the N-word, he said that my dad raped me and all type of stuff.”
The two-time Olympic gold medalist expressed her dismay at the lack of accountability for Garcia’s actions:
“I think it’s just very disturbing, and it still hasn’t been an apology from him yet. Look, I don’t care how drunk or how you was, that’s not acceptable.”
Shields also commended Haney for his restrained response to the situation, suggesting she would have handled things differently.
“I have to give a lot of respect to Devin because I would have handled things way, way differently,”
she explained.
“If a girl was doing that to me, every time I seen her, her and her team would be getting their ass kicked. I’ll be running up on her every time I seen her.”
In closing, Shields endorsed Haney’s decision to pursue legal action against Garcia:
“Yeah, I would have sued him too. My God.”
Garcia’s team has yet to respond to Shields’ comments as the boxing world continues to debate the implications of his positive test result following what was initially celebrated as a career-defining victory over Haney.
