Ryan Garcia and Jake Paul were one time friends and “King Ry” even welcomed the YouTube star into the sport and trained together with the “Problem Child”.
But after Paul extended his boxing record to 9-1 with a first round TKO win over Ryan Bourland in Puerto Rico on Saturday night, it seems Garcia has had enough of Paul’s impact on the sport.
Garcia, who is set to challenge Devin Haney for his WBC super-lightweight world title next month, took to social media to call out Paul and claimed he had f***** up by introducing him to the sport.
“Okay enough, it’s on. I’m going to have to do this,” Garcia tweeted. “I’m going to end this JAKE PAUL BOXING THING. BRING IT ON JAKE. I’M DEAD F****** SERIOUS. F*** YOU! HIT MY TEAM UP.”
Garcia then doubled down on his initial call out, adding in a voice note: “I can’t do this s***. I feel so f****ng bad for introducing Jake Paul to boxing. I f***ed up. I can’t allow this to happen.
“He’s disrespecting my sport, he’s disrespecting everything. Call my team, Jake. F*** you. I’m going to end this Jake Paul boxing thing. Bring it on Jake, I’m dead f****ng serious f*** you, hit my team up.”
— RYAN GARCIA (@RyanGarcia) March 3, 2024
Paul makes Garcia cocaine accusation as he welcomes call out
Garcia has been in the headlines this week for admitting to be high on cannabis during a recent X Spaces session.
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The 25-year-old batted away accusations of taking cocaine from his rival, Haney, in Thursday’s pre-fight press conference, but Paul used that as a stick to beat him with while welcoming his callout.
“He’s doing some cocaine. That boy is getting that s*** straight from Colombia or something. That s***’s strong,” Paul said in his post-fight press conference on Saturday.
‼️ Jake Paul responds to Ryan Garcia's call-out: "That boy is getting that s*** straight from Colombia. You've gotta chill out. You seem like you're losing your mind, acting thirsty and desperate."
[🎥 @DAZNBoxing] pic.twitter.com/lopAmXcfoU
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) March 3, 2024
“Ryan, I love you, you know that, bro, but you got to chill out, bro.
“There’s a line – you just seem like you’re losing your mind, acting thirsty, and desperate, and saying you’re a millionaire when you’ve had one money fight. I’m just saying – just chill, bro.
“If you do want to fight – that’s, to me light work, you’ve got no footwork, and as long as you’ve been in the game I’m a better boxer than you.”
Given Paul weighed in at 199.8lbs for his win over Bourland, and Garcia currently competes in the 140lb division, it would have to be at an unprecedented catchweight if the two new found rivals were to fight in the ring.