Ryan Garcia suffers 'significant injury'; fight with Joseph Diaz is off for now

Lightweight contender Ryan Garcia’s ring return is off again.

Golden Boy Promotions announced on Friday that Garcia suffered what was termed “a significant injury” to his right wrist during a training session and that orthopedic hand specialist Dr. Steven Shin will perform surgery to repair it on Monday at the Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Surgery Center in Los Angeles.

“I want to thank my fans for all the continued support,” Garcia said in a statement. “We are postponing my next fight for a couple of months as a result of a significant hand injury that requires immediate surgery. I will undergo surgery at Cedars-Sinai on Monday. I promise early ‘22 I will return better, faster, and stronger than ever. I love you guys!”

Although the fight had not yet been formally announced, Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs), 23, of Victorville, California, was due to headline a Golden Boy Promotions card on DAZN challenging WBC interim lightweight titlist Joseph Diaz Jr. (32-1-1, 15 KOs), 28, of Downey, California, on Nov 27 at a site to be determined in Southern California. That fight is now off.

“Ryan is a very resilient young man,” Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya said. “We hope he takes the necessary time to heal and recover. As a fighter, I understand the importance of taking hand injuries seriously, and I am glad Ryan is doing the right thing and addressing the injury quickly. We wish him a speedy recovery.” 

Golden Boy president Eric Gomez provided Fight Freaks Unite with more detail on the injury.

“Ryan has a chipped bone and ligament damage,” Gomez said. “It’s a serious injury but the doctor is one of the best in the nation and he feel he will fully recover and the turnaround time is two months before Ryan can start using his hand again and punching with  it.”

“KingRy” has not fought since Jan. 2, when he survived a hard knockdown in the second round but otherwise controlled and then knocked out England’s Luke Campbell, a former two-time world title challenger and Olympic gold medalist, in the seventh round to claim the WBC interim belt at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

Garcia was due back in the ring against Javier Fortuna in a mandatory fight on July 9 but in late April Garcia announced via social media that he had withdrawn from the fight and was going to take a break from boxing to address a mental health issue.

Garcia was stripped of the interim belt and Diaz instead faced Fortuna on July 9 and won a unanimous decision to claim the vacant interim title.

Garcia was linked to various other bouts when he decided he was coming back but ultimately agreed to fight Diaz and the two announced the bout on social media.

With Garcia out, WBC titlist Devin Haney and Diaz could wind up fighting, perhaps in December when Haney is next due to headline a Matchroom Boxing card on DAZN.

After Garcia’s injury was announced, Haney (26-0, 15 KOs), 22, of Las Vegas, tweeted at Garcia and Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, “Let’s make this fight happen Dec 3rd.”

Diaz, meantime, was taking shots at Garcia on his Twitter feed

“Ryan Garcia is a bitch,” Diaz wrote. “Ryan got a hand injury shadow boxing…pussy.”

Gomez said Golden Boy notified Diaz of the Garcia’s injury and that he was, obviously, upset.

“It’s a big shocker and were weighing our options on what we’re going to do,” Gomez said. “JoJo was very disappointed. It was a disappointment for both guys.”

Photo: Tom Hogan/Golden Boy

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