Remember, when Ryan Garcia vowed to check himself into rehab after he trashed his ex-wife’s house and sent NSFW messages? Well, that plan went out of the window quite quickly. The whirlwind of professional and personal upheavals could not make Ryan Garcia choose a life of quiet introspection. He was recently in Japan to attend the RIZIN 3 event. The Victorville native was ringside to watch legendary Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao square up against Japanese kickboxer Rukiya Anpo in an exhibition fight.

After the bout, Garcia entered the ring and challenged both fighters to a boxing match. “I want to fight in Japan. And I want to challenge Anpo or Manny, whoever.” But wait, there is more to it. In the lead-up to Pacquiao’s exhibition fight, Garcia had a face-off with Manny Pacquiao.“It’s on like donkey Kong @mannypacquiao. I love you and respect you. But a battle is a battle,” ‘KingRy’ wrote on X as he posted a picture of the intense stare-off.

Furthermore, in an interview with popular Russian-American Youtuber Vitaly Zdorovetskiy on his show Catching Predators, Garcia revealed his plans to fight Pacquiao this year. Talking about why he was there in Japan, Garcia said, “I was doing a fight deal with Manny Pacquiao”. When Vitaly asked, “Exhibition?”, Garcia said, “Yeah, exhibition.”

The Victorville native further revealed that the date of the fight has not been finalized yet, but the potential showdown will take place by the “end of the year”. Previously, rumors were circulating that Garcia would fight in an exhibition boxing match for the Japanese promotion RIZIN on their New Year’s Eve card. It must be pointed out that Garcia is currently serving a one-year suspension handed out by the NYSAC after he tested positive for performance-enhancing drug Ostarine.

But, there should be no concerns as Ryan Garcia will be able to fight in Japan considering it would be an exhibition. All professional boxing matches in Japan are overseen and sanctioned by the Japanese Boxing Commission (JBC), but exhibition bouts are beyond their remit. If Garcia wanted to fight professionally in Japan then he wouldn’t have been allowed as the country’s premier boxing commission would have abided by NYSAC’s ruling. Nonetheless, fans have flooded the comment section to respond to the update from Garcia.

Ryan Garcia wins by unanimous decision?

One fan commented that Ryan Garcia will knock out the veteran Filipino boxer. The age and ring rust due to his retirement from professional boxing could play a part in Manny’s downfall during a potential showdown.

Another fan joked that Ryan Garcia is heading in the direction of Jake Paul where he is going to fight boxers who are retired. It is funny considering Jake Paul holds the reputation of fighting washed-up MMA fighters or boxers who are semi-retired.

One fan reminded the boxing community that Ryan Garcia was supposed to be in rehab as he promised. It must be pointed out that Garcia, after being called out for his racist and Islamophobic tweets, and trashing his ex-girlfriend’s house, promised to check himself into rehab. But, his promises are as erratic as his rants on social media.

Another fan doesn’t believe that the fight will materialize. But if it did, he sees the fight going only one way, a “roadkill” for Ryan. They emphasized that Pacquiao’s poor performance in his last exhibition bout has all the warning signs of a disaster waiting to happen.

One fan commented that Pacquiao would be floored by Ryan’s deadly weapon: the left hook.

Are you interested in witnessing Ryan Garcia fight an exhibition match with Manny Pacquiao? Let us know in the comment section below.