Ryan Garcia threatens legal action for defamation of character following NYSAC’s request
Ryan Garcia was offended by NYSAC’s request and promised to sue the body.
Because of Garcia’s seemingly out-of-character posts ahead of a boxing match with Devin Haney, the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) requested that he undergoes mental checkup before proceeding to the bout.
This was unacceptable to Garcia who termed the action a breach of his constitutional rights.
Though his promoters, Golden Boy Promotions, saw things in a slightly-different way, Garcia posted the following on X:
‘Is it not my U.S. constitutional right to have free speech?”
‘So because I’m tweeting what I’m tweeting, that’s premises for a mental evaluation?
‘That’s curious. Now you are trying to mess with my constitutional rights, now I am going to sue you. I’m going to sue you for defamation of character, actually.’
Here is Golden Boy Promotion’s perspective as shown by their spokesman, Stefan Friedman:
‘As is the case with all Golden Boy fights, we are in close contact with the commission and sanctioning bodies and will of course follow any and all rules and regulations to ensure our fighters are ready on fight night.’
It seems Garcia’s argument would not change anything at all. The checkup is likely inevitable.