Oscar De La Hoya believes Ryan Garcia needs a hard reset after his May 2 loss to Rolando “Rolly” Romero, telling reporter Sean Zittel he wants the 26-year-old to “take the whole year off” and let both body and mind mend. The Golden Boy promoter pointed to lingering injuries and the “tug-of-war” of outside distractions as reasons to unplug before plotting a 2026 return.
Garcia had already spent 13 months out of the ring serving a New York suspension for a failed PED test following his April 2024 upset of Devin Haney. A second straight year on the shelf would mean roughly 32 months of actual inactivity.
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Some argue that extended downtime could cement the doubts exposed by Romero, who out-hustled Garcia to hand him a decisive defeat. History shows long layoffs can hollow a fighter’s confidence; De La Hoya himself stayed busy at 26, mixing it with Ike Quartey, Oba Carr and Félix Trinidad in 1999. Yet the Hall-of-Famer insists mental clarity outweighs ring rust: “You’ve got to step back, reassess your life, and put it all in order again.”
If Garcia does lace up sooner, matchmakers will have to find a confidence-builder rather than another shark at 140 lbs. Otherwise, the “KingRy” brand risks drifting from contender status toward cameo money-fight territory.
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