LOS ANGELES – One day after Canelo Alvarez threw yet another jab at Ryan Garcia and questioned his discipline and work ethic – which caused his former stablemate to fire back on Twitter to defend himself – Garcia was front and center in front of reporters at Golden Boy Promotions headquarters to ramp up promotion for his April 9 fight against Emmanuel Tagoe in San Antonio.
Garcia announced last month that he would no longer train with Eddy Reynoso and instead was handing the coaching keys to his career to Joe Goossen to work alongside his father Henry.
Garcia trained with Reynoso for nearly 3 ½ years and five fights, all five of which ended by knockout.
The 23-year-old Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) said he moved on from Reynoso because the heralded coach didn’t have time to work with him 100%. The statement led Alvarez to say Monday that Reynoso “has all the time” for Garcia and that the upstart lightweight contender “needs to be disciplined.”
The undisputed super middleweight champion Alvarez was doubling down from previous remarks he made in November when he proclaimed Garcia was wasting time, talent, he was not 100% dedicated, and that it was a bad sign for his career.
Garcia clapped back via Twitter on Monday night saying that “Canelo doesn’t know the facts” that ultimately led to the split.
Garcia had a rocky 2021 which kicked off with KO win against Luke Campbell, only to be sidetracked with a break due to mental health issues starting in April, and right hand surgery in October.
“[Alvarez] misses me too. He missed me in the ring. I know he wants to see me fight too,” Garcia laughed when BoxingScene.com asked him to elaborate on the ordeal. “That’s what a break is. Like a break is you don’t train. I had to clear some things out, and he knows that. So the things he said was kind of shocking, but I kind of already addressed it on Twitter. I just hit him with the facts. I was kind of tired of him that he kept coming at my work ethic. I kind of got fed up. I have shown nothing but respect and love and I kind of finally was like, alright, I’m going to speak my mind and piece and leave it at. I’m going to destroy it come April 9. Actually, the best thing about this is that boxing is the most truthful sport in the game. So when you see me step in the ring April 9, you will see if I have a good work ethic or not. You are going to see, so we don’t even have to talk about it any more.”
Garcia and Alvarez had both previously admitted they had a solid big brother, little brother like relationship, but the fighters have apparently taken their squabble to social media and recently unfollowed each other on Instagram. Garcia still follows Reynoso’s Instagram profile.
“It’s more like Darth Vader and … nah, nah, we’re good. No bad blood,” Garcia quipped as he assessed his relationship with Alvarez. “I still think he’s a great fighter. I can’t hate on him. He does his thing. He works hard too. It’s just the situation we’re in right now. It’s going to pass. We’ll probably be cool later on. If not, that will probably be on him because I’m ready to be cool right now.”
Although Garcia has left Alvarez’s nest, he still trains a stone’s throw away from Alvarez’s training headquarters in San Diego.
When Garcia was asked how he would react if he saw Alvarez out and about, he threw one last parting shot with a hearty laugh.
“I’m going to punch him,” he said.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or on www.ManoukAkopyan.com.