Ryan Garcia's blockbuster comeback did not go as planned. The controversial welterweight suffered a stunning and lopsided unanimous decision loss (115-112, 115-112, 118-109) to Rolando "Rolly" Romero on Friday night, sending his immediate future spiraling into the unknown following a lackluster showing at the historic boxing event in Times Square, New York.
Garcia had not competed in more than a year after testing positive for the banned substance ostarine in two drug tests related to his grudge match against Devin Haney. Garcia dropped Haney three times en route to a majority decision win, however the match was later declared a no contest due to the drug-test failures and Garcia received a one-year suspension.
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Friday's big return in Times Square was supposed to be the last step toward scheduling a Garcia vs. Haney rematch, however Romero didn't get the memo. He knocked down Garcia in the second round then dominated the rest of the 12-round bout opposite a lethargic effort from Garcia. Having entered the bout as a whopping +700 underdog on BetMGM, Romero may have ultimately pulled off the upset of the year.
Given Garica's slew of divisive comments in 2024 and his drug-testing past, it shouldn't come as a surprise to find out that many of Garcia's peers in the boxing world were not unhappy to see Friday's outcome. See how Garcia's fellow fighters and other notable figures in boxing reacted to Romero's upset:
Catch full results, highlights and play-by-play from Friday's historic Times Square event here.
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