Here’s a blast from the recent past—Back in July, former interim WBC lightweight champion Ryan Garcia was banned from professional boxing by the World Boxing Council (WBC) for his racist rant on social media. While the incident has since died down, actor and mixed martial artist Michael Jai White has now branded the Victorville native a provocateur for his statements. 

If you need a refresher on what actually happened—after his fight against Devin Haney in April, ‘King Ry’ tested positive for the banned substance Ostarine in several tests conducted by VADA. This later resulted in the 26-year-old being suspended for a year from boxing and the win over Haney was overturned to a no-contest by the New York State Athletic Commission. 

Following this, Ryan Garcia got caught making several derogatory comments about African American people, while also making Islamophobic statements in an X-space conversation. The Victorville native went as far as to claim that the Late George Floyd, a victim of police violence, should be brought back to life just so he could kill him. 

It’s worth noting that people largely believed Garcia needed mental health support because of his erratic and strange behavior on social media in the lead-up to the Haney fight. Even though he apologized for his statements, after Garcia’s racist rant, the WBC decided to take quick action against the 26-year-old. They banned him from fighting for their belts forever.

Fast forward to yesterday, DJ Vlad on YouTube, shared an interview with Michael Jai White, probing him about his thoughts on everything Garcia said during his rant, months ago. Reacting to the entire fiasco, White said, “I don’t believe him… I don’t believe he meant that. I think he should get his a** whooped for it… But I think he’s a provocateur.”

The actor and mixed martial artist acknowledged that Ryan Garcia had him fooled with his actions on social media before the Haney fight. “I mean he did it successfully. He fooled the s**t out of me before that fight, acting like he was crazy,” White told Vlad TV. However, White refused to get fooled a second time because of the things Garcia said about African Americans. 

“Even if I ran into him, I wouldn’t believe that he meant that personally. I just think he’s doing that for an effect,” White concluded. White is a little late with his reaction to the whole thing, while a five-division champion, who knows Garcia quite well, simply refused to say anything. 

Floyd Mayweather on racist rant from Ryan Garcia

Floyd Mayweather has distanced himself from Ryan Garcia following the latter’s controversial comments, choosing to focus on promoting his own fighters instead. After Garcia’s viral rant, Mayweather, who was in Curmel Moton’s corner, during the Jorge Masvidal vs. Nate Diaz event, declined to address the Garcia situation. 

“Oh no, no. You’re not gonna get me involved in that. It’s not my thing,” Mayweather stated in an interview with Fight Hype, emphasizing his commitment to positivity and his fighters. This shift comes after a brief collaboration between the two, which ended quickly amid Mayweather’s ongoing rivalry with Oscar De La Hoya, Garcia’s promoter. 

That being said, Michael Jai White doesn’t believe Ryan Garcia actually meant anything he said during his rant on social media. However, this raises questions about modern-day fighters, who seemingly will go to any lengths to promote their fight. What is your take on White’s response?