Ryan Garcia is back in the minds of boxing fans following his sixth round knockout win over Javier Fortuna two weeks ago and the 23-year-old is not afraid to speak his mind when the spotlight shines on him.
In the build-up to his victory, Garcia was quick to criticse the world sanctioning bodies, including the WBC, when it comes to world titles.
“You guys put so much emphasis on these belts. Let them go, they don’t mean s—t. Belts don’t mean sh!t nowadays,” Garcia told The DAZN Boxing Show following the weigh-in for the Fortuna fight.
“If I beat Devin [Haney], they’ll say now go fight Tank [Gervonta Davis]. But if I beat Tank, they can’t say s—t."
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman was given the chance to react to Garcia's recent comments on The DAZN Boxing Show and believes the American's negativity towards world title belts was a result of the pressures of fight week.
"He’s [Ryan Garcia] just a young kid who was one day out from a fight. It means a lot to be back in the ring, new trainer so there’s a lot of pressure on him," Sulaiman said.
"I saw him when he was very young in the WBC office and he was admiring the WBC belt, he was saying that was his dream. I’ve been with him several times and he’s always been respectful and saying he wants to be a WBC champion."
The sanctioning bodies aren't liked by fans within sport, often making exemptions for certain fighters and stopping certain fights from happening with inappropriately timed mandatory defences.
However, Sulaiman is hoping Garcia isn't true to his word and hopes he can reach the career heights which he is capable of.
"For him to say that is unfortunate, I don’t think he really means that, I think it’s just a protection statement about being jealous about whoever has the belt and him not being able to be there yet, but that was due to his own problems.
"He’s a talented fighter, I like him very much as a person, I wish him success, and I truly don’t think he believes what he said, that’s my opinion."