Everything to Know About Former Teammates Ryan Garcia and Canelo Alvarez’s On and Off Beef

Twenty-four-year-old Ryan Garcia is on the cusp of everlasting glory. It’s taken more than a decade for the California-born ‘KingRy,’ to reach the stage that would eventually set him on a journey to become modern boxing’s next superstar. The orthodox boxer, with a perfect record of twenty-three wins against nil losses, had put on the gloves at age seven. He hasn’t looked back ever since.

Like his bitter foe Gervonta Davis, Garcia has had a wonderful outing as an amateur boxer. He ended up a silver medalist in the 2014 Reno Junior National Championships (Under 17). Bettering himself by 2016, he became a gold medalist at the Youth National Championships (Under 19). Before he turned professional by mid of that year, Ryan Garcia had been a national champion fifteen times. His amateur record stood at two hundred and fifteen wins against only fifteen losses.

His debut bout was against Edgar Meza on June 6, 2016. A year later, after winning close to ten bouts, one after the other, Garcia won his first title, the vacant WBC-NABF  Junior Super Featherweight. While his professional journey started on a great note, at a personal level, too, prospects turned for good. At least for the time being.

Ryan Garcia vs. Canelo Alvarez: how did teammates turn into rivals?

Ryan Garcia had signed up with former champion and now promoter Oscar De La Hoya‘s Golden Boy Promotions in 2016. Two years later, he started training under the legendary coach Eddy Reynoso in October 2018. In the San Diego, California facility of Reynoso, Garcia met Super Middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. The latter soon became his mentor as well. It should be noted that it was while in Reynoso’s stable that ‘KingRy’ achieved some of his landmark victories as well achieving a slew of titles, including the interim WBC Lightweight.

But come the year 2022, the terms between Garcia, on one hand, and Alvarez and Reynoso on the other, turned sour. After the win over Luke Campbell on January 2, 2021, Garcia took a break from boxing as he suffered from a broken wrist. But it was a comment from Alvarez, questioning his professionalism which signaled a beef fomenting between the teammates.

Unfortunately, things weren’t looking so encouraging on the training front either. Reportedly Garcia felt that he wasn’t getting the right amount of focus and consideration in line with his growing stature in the sport. According to an article on Marca.com, Garcia said, “I felt there was a lack of focus and lack of time (with Reynoso). So, I made the decision based on what I needed. Eddy is a great trainer, but you have to be there every day. It doesn’t matter how big you are or not.” By February 2022, he decided to move out besides bringing on a new trainer Joe Goossen.

A brief look at the verbal exchange between Ryan Garcia and Canelo Alvarez: Are they still enemies?

It was on October 28, 2021, that Complex Sports published an edited version of the Zoom interview with ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. When asked, “Where do you see Ryan going forward because he’s one of the brightest young stars in boxing?“ Alvarez responded, “Ryan has a lot of talent, but to me, in my eyes, he’s wasting a lot of time and wasting his talent. I look at him and don’t see him 100 percent dedicated and, to us, that’s a bad signal. We always remind him as a team to come to the gym, to train, and to learn because you need to be in the gym...So definitely he needs to be a little more dedicated. ”

Shocked, Garcia told, senior writer with Sports Illustrated, Chris Mannix, “I was shocked and kind of confused by it. I didn’t quite understand why he would say something like this, especially to the media, because he could have definitely taken me somewhere else and told me personally. I kind of took it as disloyal.”

However, Garcia reportedly never kept any feelings of ill-will against his former trainer and mentor. He said, “I would never do that to him, I would never speak about him in the gym about what I think he should be doing…I hope the best for him, but when he said that I felt betrayed.”

Later, Ryan Garcia even invited ‘Canelo’ to see his bout against Javier Fortuna on July 16 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. But a few months later, just when the heat was simmering down, Garcia fired a fresh salvo. He surmised that the Mexican champion, who was preparing to face Gennady Golovkin for their trilogy fight would face defeat.

Canelo Alvarez’s take on Ryan Garcia’s upcoming fight with Gervonta Davis

Last year, sometime in August while speaking to FightHub TV, Canelo Alvarez called the match between Ryan Garcia and Gervonta Davis a good fight. However, when the interviewer persisted to know the eventual winner, Alvarez picked Davis and gave the latter’s considerable experience in the ring as a justification.

But come March this year, the Mexican world champion voiced out a word of caution for the Baltimorean southpaw. In an interview given to ESNEWS, Canelo told Davis to watch out for Garcia’s speed, “He’s [Davis] a very talented fighter, so he needs to be careful with Ryan because he’s a strong and fast fighter. He needs to do his job and train 100 percent. He’s a good fighter.”

Is a fight between Ryan Garcia and Canelo Alvarez possible?

On paper, a fight between Ryan Garcia and ‘Canelo’ Alvarez may appear possible. It would be fans’ delight as well. But whether that would genuinely turn into a possibility remains to be seen. Firstly, there’s a difference in weight divisions. For either boxer, it would mean a four-division ascent (for Garcia) or descent (for Alvarez), respectively. But, it also leads to an open question what if both the boxers fight at a commonly agreed catchweight?

Read More: The Complete Gervonta Davis vs. Ryan Garcia Undercard Has Been Revealed

One more critical aspect that begs attention is the age gap. While Canelo is thirty-two, Garcia is still twenty-four. Hence, if they agree to contest, it has to happen soon. Any further delay may lead to the contest falling off and ultimately fading away from public memory. What is your take on the Garcia – Alvarez relationship? Do share your views and opinions with us in the comments below.

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