Ryan Garcia has opened up on the implosion that led to his shocking loss to Rolly Romero and the revival he insists will make him 'unstoppable' when he supposedly faces Mario Barrios next.
The 26-year-old star admits he entered the Romero fight physically ruined, emotionally unstable and mentally checked out, revealing a year of self-destruction left him barely able to train and spiralling into a dark period that ended with jail time and a stay in a mental health institute.
'It wasn't the motivation that was the problem,' Garcia said via Covers.com. 'It was physically my body was getting tired from the littlest things. I couldn't spar, I couldn't do anything, I was just very weak, and it was a recipe for disaster... everything that you could think about going wrong was bad.'
Garcia confessed that after the Devin Haney fight - a bout later overturned when he tested positive for trace amounts of Ostarine, which he insists came from contaminated supplements - he went on a months-long binge that wrecked his conditioning.
'It was just drinking every day, not giving a f*. I was very angry at the world... angry at the fans, angry at the boxing commission, everybody. I felt cheated. I never took steroids, I never took Ostarine, so I was extremely pissed off, and I just had a rebellious attitude. It took a toll on my body.'
The fighter says he entered camp for the Romero fight barely functional. 'When I was training for the Rolly fight, I couldn't train more than two days a week before my body just felt so lethargic, so weak. I genuinely felt something was wrong.'
His mental state was even worse. 'I went to jail. I broke everything in a hotel room. I had to stay three days in a mental health institute. I broke everything in my house. For me to be here right now is crazy... I definitely shouldn't have fought coming out of those things I was going through.'
Garcia insists Romero didn't beat 'the real' him.
'Imagine me not even trying, and this dude couldn't even knock me out,' he said. 'I was just moving around the ring...the fact that I'm not throwing punches and you can't do anything? It's not like you beat me in my heart. They have every right to be happy, but he knows the deal and I'm going to get that back.'
He says his hand injury played a role but wasn't the main cause of his performance, which saw him lose to Romero after looking sluggish and a shadow of his former self.
'My hand feels ten times better now... but it was mainly where I was at, and how I wasn't even there.'
Now sober, stabilised and training daily, Garcia claims he has rebuilt himself from the inside out - literally. 'I fixed my gut health... I had a bacterial infection in my stomach I had no clue about. I took medicine, and kept training every day, and everything started clearing up.'
He credits a neighbour, Jeff, with dragging him out of the abyss. 'My neighbour would show up to my doorstep and take me to the gym every day... One day, I just snapped out of it. Everything became more clear, and I was hungry again.'
Garcia says he is now 'more in shape and mentally clear' than at any point before the Romero fight. 'I'm way more aggressive, way more sharp... now when I think about these fights, I see me winning.'
He has also committed to complete sobriety. 'I have a very fast brain... if I have a drink, we’re gonna have a night, and that takes away three or four days. It puts me backwards. I’ve committed myself to being sober. If I’m at my best, I don’t think any man can ever feel safe in the ring with me.'
Garcia even turned down a blockbuster crossover clash with Jake Paul - leading the YouTuber-turned-boxer to Anthony Joshua, who he will take on in Miami on December 19.
'I had $20million (£15m) offered. I went with Barrios for less,' he revealed. 'That's a stupid matchup for me. He's 220 pounds, for damn's sake... How am I going to knock out a 220-pound dude?'
He didn't rule out a future mega-payday though, but only if Paul dangled the $70m (£52m) he is supposedly giving AJ.
'I'd definitely consider it. I'd be stupid if I didn't... but sometimes money is not everything. I live a great life. What's the point? I get more money then what - a bigger house? More cars? What does that mean?'
For now, Garcia's eyes are locked on Barrios and a future rematch with Romero.
'I'm hungry to beat Barrios and then get Rolly back. I'm going to beat Barrios, hopefully unify, and then I definitely want to get that 100 per cent back.'