Ryan Garcia threatens to sue commission over mental health check
The build-up to Ryan Garcia’s fight with Devin Haney has been marred by plenty of drama and bizarre behaviour, and now the troubled fighter has threatened to sue the commission that wants him to undergo a mental health check before the fight.
Garcia’s behaviour has been hugely erratic in recent weeks. Once the fight was confirmed he went on the offensive with his trash talk.
He has accused Haney of fighting only for belts not legacy, has complained about the price of tickets for the fight, has been unhappy at it being held in Brooklyn and not Las Vegas, has leaked footage of Haney and Gervonta Davis sparring from many years ago, has said that people around him have restricted access to his phone and bank account, and admitted to smoking weed.
The fight is scheduled for April and some onlookers have been so concerned about Garcia’s mental state – which has previously led to him taking time away from the sport – that other fighters have offered to step in including Shakur Stevenson and Adrian Broner.
Now it is being reported by journalist Michael Benson in a post on X that Garcia is ready to sue the New York Commission.
“Ryan Garcia threatening to sue the New York Commission because they want a mental health evaluation from him ahead of the Devin Haney fight on April 20th after seeing his recent social media posts … ”
An accompanying video from Garcia goes into more detail.
“I’m going to sue the NYC commission and I’m saying why. They are trying to challenge me to a mental evaluation. I said OK, what is your premises for your mental evolution and they said well your tweets and your posts. And I said is that not my US constitutional right to have free speech? That’s curious so now you’re trying to mess with my constitutional rights, so now I’m going to sue you for defamation of character.”
Many believe it would be a good idea for Garcia to have this evaluation given his behaviour in recent weeks.