Ryan Garcia is going under the knife. The former WBC lightweight champion will undergo hand surgery on Tuesday after his May 2 loss to Rolando “Rolly” Romero.
Garcia, 26, is set for surgery in Los Angeles, according to Garcia’s manager, Guadalupe Valencia. Noted hand specialist Dr. Steven Shin, who has operated on many boxers, including Canelo Alvarez and Vasiliy Lomachenko, will perform the surgery. Garcia is expected to resume training six weeks after the surgery.
Garcia allegedly suffered the injury while preparing for the Romero fight. “Rolly” beat Garcia via unanimous decision (118-109, 115-112,115-112) for the vacant WBA welterweight championship, despite entering as a seven-to-one underdog.
Garcia’s recovery may impact a potential rematch with Devin Haney. Haney, whose April 2024 majority decision loss to Garcia was overturned after Garcia’s failed drug test, beat Jose Ramirez in the co-main event of Garcia-Romero which was expected to set up the rematch.
Last week, Golden Boy Promotions’ founder Oscar De La Hoya, Garcia’s promoter, told Fight Hype they had “zero” interest in pursuing the Haney rematch. Instead, De La Hoya proposed another showdown with Romero.
“That’s exactly what I would do,” De La Hoya said. “That would be the right move for him. Go get revenge.”