The biggest Ryan Garcia story of the last several months went entirely unreported by boxing media– and it could be regarded as an even bigger scandal than popping positive for the banned substance Ostarine before and after last April’s bout with Devin Haney.
Just a few days ago, on January 30, the 26-year-old announced the launch of his meme coin $RYAN. And, almost immediately, the coin crashed, losing investors virtually all of their money. Experts in the cryptocurrency field have called the Garcia move a classic crypto rug pull, a fraud scheme that has become increasingly prevalent in the wild west of the crypto world.
Most recently, the internet-trending “Hawk Tuah Girl” Haliey Welch was reportedly involved in a similar scheme that could’ve netted her somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 million.
What Is a “Rug Pull?”
The wildly illegal and unethical “rug pull” practice often builds off a celebrity’s name and influence to launch a meme coin to massive acclaim and attention with major funding behind the launch to create the illusion of value. After money comes in from public investment, however, the coin’s initial investors quickly sell off their shares at the artificially inflated price, leaving behind a virtually worthless coin for everybody else.
In the particular case of Garcia’s coin, the token skyrocketed to an $85M market cap in just 5 minutes after launching, only to lose more than 90% of its value moments later.
In case you missed it:
>Boxer Ryan Garcia launches a memecoin
>”40% of ALL the $RYAN supply will go to CHARITY”
>Token immediately tanks 90%+
>Ryan deletes his post pic.twitter.com/e2WE1nQYy4— Coffeezilla (@coffeebreak_YT) January 31, 2025
The predictable and likely manufactured fall compelled Barstool Sport’s founder Dave Portnoy to quip on social media, “I’d trust a Hawk Tuah coin before a Ryan Garcia coin.”
Ryan Garcia: From “It’s For The Kids” to “It’s Gone”
Garcia had hyped the meme coin to his immense social media audience as part of an initiative to help “shape a stronger, braver, and more independent AMERICAN youth.”
After some predictable push back about the dicey meme coin proposition (including some from yours truly), Garcia responded with a follow-up social media post assuring that his Donald Trump-inspired initiative (!) would see 40% of the coin’s earnings go towards troubled youth outreach:
“I didn’t launch this memecoin to make money of [sic] people. I don’t need your money. I launched this coin with a mission of getting less fortunate born kids OFF THE STREETS, AWAY FROM GANGS, AND INTO THE GYMS AND RINGS OF AMERICA. With Trump in office it’s time for a change. I plan to front run this change for the youth through sports (and memes lol).
40% is reserved for these initiatives. So join the movement and be part of history or stfu.
$RYAN FIGHTS FOR A BETTER FUTURE.”
Shortly after the coin’s crash, though, Garcia would erase all social media posts regarding $RYAN and remain social media-silent until one brief post about the performance of one-time rumored opponent Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz on the David Benavidez-David Morrell PPV undercard this past Saturday.
Meanwhile, In Boxing Media…
And, as all this meme coin stuff was happening in the real world, the boxing media world said nothing. Not a word on any major site.
Ring Magazine, which is now owned by Saudi Arabia Crown Prince figurehead Turki Alalshikh and will be promoting Garcia’s May bout with Rolly Romero, would usher Garcia past the brewing legal scandal with a hard-hitting report on…his May ring attire being designed by Dominic “The Shoe Surgeon” Ciambrone. The following day, they’d announce that Garcia had signed a multi-fight agreement with the Saudi Riyadh Season initiative, which, of course, is overseen by Turki Alalshikh. Then, there’d be a promo piece about Garcia enrolling in the VADA drug screening program.
One can see how the obvious conflicts of interest rolled up into the fabric of the ethically-amorphous “New Era” Ring Magazine would lead to zero coverage of the Ryan Garcia meme coin scandal. But what about the other major sites? Boxingscene? Fight News? Coppinger? Mannix? Not even The Sweet Science!
These people will probably argue that Garcia’s meme coin is not boxing-related. Okay. But neither is a fighter’s domestic abuse reports or, on the flip side, a fighter’s charitable activities. Yet, all of that gets covered– sometimes ad nauseam– by the media.
Boxing media has always been, um, deferential to the money interests of those calling the shots in the sport (who often fund sites and/or writers directly or indirectly). But expect that game to increase exponentially under the new Saudi ownership, which has absolutely no regard for the concept of a free press and doesn’t even care to foster an illusion of journalistic propriety within their media purchases.
Welcome to the new normal. Blink too fast and you’re going to miss a lot of what’s really happening.
Paul Magno has over forty years of experience in and around the sport of boxing and has had his hand in everything from officiating to training. As a writer, his work has appeared on Yahoo Sports, Fox Sports, Fight Hype, Max Boxing, Boxing.com, Inside Fights, The Queensberry Rules, Overtime Heroics, Bleacher Report, and Premier Boxing Champions. He is currently the owner and managing editor or The Boxing Tribune. You can follow his Twitter/X account, @boxing_tribune, for breaking boxing news, analysis, and sometimes NSFW commentary. For Advertising, Inquiries, etc., send him an email here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com