Report: Ryan Garcia Arrested On Suspicion Of Felony Vandalism

Ryan Garcia continues to make the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

The troubled boxing star was arrested by Beverly Hills police on Saturday, though the exact reasons are still not immediately clear. Garcia was escorted out of the Beverly Hills Waldorf Astoria hotel, shown shirtless and in handcuffs, though his face was covered by a police helmet.

Tabloid news site TMZ reported that Garcia (25-1, 20 knockouts) was arrested on suspicion of felony vandalism at the luxury establishment. It was alleged that Garcia caused property damage in his room and accompanying hallway. Any damage in excess of $400 qualifies as a felony in the state of California.

Attorneys for the 25-year-old from Victorville, California, informed The Ring that Garcia was taken to a nearby hospital for substance treatment. The only information his team had was the possibility of the boxer being charged with public intoxication. Messages left with BHPD’s media relation department seeking confirmation on the vandalism charge went unreturned as this goes to publication.

The development three days after local authorities were contacted to perform a welfare check on the boxer at the same hotel. Police were contacted by an unnamed Garcia family member, though there were not any findings of wrongdoing during their spot-check.

Garcia’s arrest overlapped with claims made of not being paid for his April 20 bout versus Devin Haney (31-1, 15 KOs) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Both boxers took to social media insisting they were still owed money from the event.

Golden Boy Promotions, Garcia’s promoter and the lead for the DAZN Pay-Per-View event, issued a statement refuting the claim. It was explained that both boxers were paid the full fight purse listed on the contracts submitted to the New York State Athletic Commission. Any monies still to come will be issued once the final revenue streams are tabulated, which can take up to 90 days after a fight.

Concern for Garcia’s rapid mental health decline arose at the start of the press tour for the Haney fight. Bizarre posts and statements were made daily, and often several times throughout each day.

Garcia went on to win a majority decision, on the strength of three knockdowns. The win was initially diminished by his badly missing weight. The lack of professionalism at the scales cost him a shot at Haney’s WBC 140-pound title.

Whatever victory lap was enjoyed from the upset win was further tainted by a pair of positive drug tests. Samples collected on April 19 and April 20 produced findings of the banned substance Ostarine.

Garcia claimed contamination and submitted containers of two supplements he allegedly used during training camp. Test results conducted in a WADA-accredited lab also returned findings of Ostarine, which Garcia and his legal team offered as proof that he was otherwise a clean fighter.

The reports for both supplements arrived taped for shipping purposes but the seals otherwise broken. It would make sense since he reportedly used them during training camp. However, normal procedure calls for submission of sealed containers from the same lot number, to prove batch-wide contamination.

Garcia remains under investigation with the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) over the infraction. He faces a suspension, fine and the win being changed to a No-Contest or even a disqualification loss.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.

Follow @JakeNDaBox