“Ryan Garcia isn’t strong or good if he doesn’t use” – Malignaggi

Former world champion Paulie Malignaggi blasted Ryan Garcia today, saying that when he’s “not using, he’s not fast” or strong.

Malignaggi is not impressed with Ryan’s ability. He notes that he suddenly developed a power surge five years ago when he knocked out Romero Duno in the first round in 2019 with a punch that barely connected to the top of his head.

Paulie feels that Ryan’s speed, strength and conditioning improvements were due to the use of PEDs. The 26-year-old Garcia recently tested positive for the banned performance-enhancing drug Ostarine following his 12-round majority decision win over Devin Haney on April 20 in Brooklyn, New York.

Former two-division world champion Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) was the odds-on favorite going into the fight with Garcia, but he was hurt almost immediately by a left hook in the first round.

From there it was all downhill for Haney, with Ryan dropping him with powerful left hooks in rounds 7, 10 and 11.

“Ryan Garcia, when he’s not on drugs, he’s not fast, he’s not strong, he’s not conditioned, and he’s not even good,” Paulie Malignaggi said. Probox TVRyan Garcia wasted. “I’ve been suspicious of Ryan Garcia’s drug use since probably the (Romero) Duno fight (on November 2, 2019).

Some fans on social media believe Malignaggi is bitter about what Ryan did to Haney, a fighter with a finesse style similar to the one he used during his career. Seeing Ryan Haney killed could have been hard for Malignaggi to accept.

Ryan cracked the Haney code so easily with his left hook choke. Was it an ego hit for Malignaggi to see Haney outwitted so quickly by Ryan, who had him on skates in the first round from a thunderous left hook that connected to the side of his head?

“The Duno fight, I saw the knockout. I didn’t say, ‘Oh, this guy is definitely doping,’ because you can never really tell,” Malignaggi said of the first-round knockout win for Ryan over Romero Duno. “But suddenly there was a certain kind of power surge in Ryan Garcia’s career. It was drastic. It wasn’t, ‘He’s kind of getting strong.’ He got interruptions.”

Malignaggi may not have followed Ryan’s career closely before his fight with Duno, but he knocked out many of his opponents in the early rounds. Prior to fighting Duno, Ryan had five 1st round knockouts and six 2nd round knockouts. When a fighter knocks out their opponents within the first two rounds at such a clip, it indicates that they have great power.

Ryan didn’t suddenly start knocking out opponents when he fought Romero Duno. He’s been doing it all along, but the only difference was that he got more attention from that win because the contest got a lot of publicity.

“But the Duno fight where you hit a durable guy, and you barely hit him on the top of the head, and one leg went one way, and the other leg went the other way, and he went in the first knocked out round. I was like, ‘This guy never hit like that,'” Malignaggi said.

If Ryan knocks out Haney in the rematch, Malignaggi could change his tune about him, provided he tests negative for PEDs. As long as Ryan comes up negative on his pre- and post-fight tests, Malignaggi can jump on board and become one of his true believers.

It is unclear if Ryan and Haney will ever fight again. Haney has a lawsuit against Ryan, which could lead to a rematch never happening. Also, if someone like Jack Catterall beats Haney by knockout, there would be no point in Ryan fighting him again because he would be seen as damaged goods. There will be more fan interest in a fight between Ryan and Catterall.