Is Ryan Garcia Changing The Way Boxing Is Promoted?

Larry Merchant said he’s thinking more of Ryan Garcia than it seems like most all pundits, the ex-HBO ATG told me on Wednesday. No, the 93-year-old won’t be picking Garcia as an underdog and will be watching the action from Brooklyn in California.

We didn’t talk as much about the fight or the strangeness of the promotion as I had intended. We did talk about this business, where it is now, and the swiftness and starkness of the climate. “It’s fucked,” I told Larry, who didn’t disagree. Ah, but rather than let my blue hue over color the interaction, Merchant offered up a couple of optimistic tidbits and fistic things to look forward to. “I’ve always been a cockeyed optimist,” he noted, and I concurred that I picked up on that. He didn’t and hasn’t devolved into the more typical crankdom of later middle age.

So, we didn’t get into the tone of the promotion. I didn’t ask, but I’m guessing Larry isn’t 24-7 monitoring the net to see Ryan’s latest trolling session. Nor is he seeing some of the spicier stuff from Bill and Devin Haney, who have steadily found their promotional voices as the years go by.

I put it out there to FightsATW boss Abe G a few weeks ago, at peak Ryan lunacy, is there a possibility this promotion tanks? It’s so weird in the buildup, with Ryan’s whacko act, and then what if Haney smart boxes his way to a 12-round safety first melatonin master class? I can picture people feeling let down after the novel antics array by “King Ry” that his effort didn’t match the promises.

Match the promises….That phrase is sticking in my head as I tap out this effort. Abe G messaged me, Woods, gimme dat fire, spit, polish, etc. He’s learning the management ropes of this side of the biz and has a strong mix of traits which make for a good publisher/editor. That directive came late last night after I had started this column. I knew I was burnt and that picking it up today to finish would be better.

I slept on it….And yeah, I had a different perspective on this promotion when I woke up, had the coffee, and pondered more.

My response to this promotion has been much like many of yours. I’m puzzled. I am bewildered a bit, mostly at how Ryan Garcia has been acting in the lead-up. And by the way, Ryan is winning when I’m puzzled, it can be argued. Because it means I’m interested enough to stay on topic and follow the storylines. And, ultimately, be a buyer, i.e., purchase the product. But…The state of being puzzled isn’t ideal for longterm so much.

Ryan’s antics make me wonder if “we” have jumped the shark, again, to another shittier place. The bids for attention on social media are something to behold. Oldsters and those not clued into the “antics” of Garcia have missed some wacky shit. But here’s part of my “puzzlement”—are they better for it? Because Ryan has already told you he’s pushing buttons to promote the event. He’s told you it’s a show, that it’s acting. And so, I don’t know about you, but I prefer more “reality” than manufactured. It’s a weird time, and the definitions are blurry and exploding. What is “news?” What is boxing news?

This promotion, interestingly, is helping me lessen some of the puzzlement in my life. It’s helped me better comprehend my own “promotion,” i.e., my life. Professionally, I’ve led a “writing life” since 1999. I’ve been working against trends that whole time. And I hit a wall…The writing on that wall, it’s been there for decades, and I’ve seen it, and ignored it, tried to look away, hung in the pit and fought to elevate. I can do this, I thought and I did, by and large. But not well enough. Not well enough to make enough money to live comfortably. My bad; the world we live in demands it. Covid brought me to the spot where I look up, and read the writing on the wall, and don’t look away.

People younger than me are not so inclined to read text. If they are to come to me to hear about boxing or whatever, I have to accommodate their preference for a platform. This promotion and Ryan’s antics have helped forced me to work on clarifying many of the issues I’ve touched on.

Sorry for the digression, Abe, readers. Sorry that this got more self-referential than expected. That’s the world we are in now: lines blurred, “news” is now delivered by the newsmakers themselves rather than middlemen and women. Middle man Mike Woods now gets it. Not fully. Still a stubborn mutt. But thanks to Ryan Garcia, mainly, for helping me understand the importance of being open to changes and being able to learn new methods to make the needed shifts so that I’m better able to make ends meet. I could, but I won’t get deeper into that. But fair to say THAT is something we all deal with…and I’m still puzzling that out….I won’t get into details of how bad it is “here,” but I will be moving forward. I will be moving forward with people who I trust and working harder to be someone who can help lift others who are puzzled by the ways of the world in media and beyond.

It feels like a goodbye letter! Nope, I am not leaving the arena. But the “news” business and trying to stay afloat in it has made me tired. And so I met the wall. I guess I was tired enough that it forced me to stop, look up, read the writing, and accept it. And let me do something different here…I do my best to hold it together, as all of us do! I’m working on a personal reset, which includes medication management. I don’t inform the world of that, but that means that I’m hiding a large part of myself from the world. I have done that out of pride, mostly. I didn’t want to admit difficulties, so I tried to handle them myself. Me. Decent dude, but as a manager of myself? Not as successful. So, I’m in the midst of getting more professional help to help me sort shit out.

Nah, I don’t think I’m opening a Substack. I will keep people apprised of what I will be doing, but for now, thanks to Ryan Garcia and this nutty promotion for helping push me to the wall.

Michael Woods

Michael Woods got addicted to boxing in 1990, when Buster Douglas shocked the world with his demolition of the then-impregnable Mike Tyson. The Brooklyn-based journalist has covered the sport since for ESPN The Magazine, ESPN.com, Bad Left Hook and RING. His journalism career started with NY Newsday in 1999. Michael Woods is also an accomplished blow by blow and color man, having done work for Top Rank, DiBella Entertainment, EPIX, and for Facebook Fightnight Live, since 2017.

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