Ryan Garcia Blasts 'Arrogant' Shakur Stevenson, Calls Boxer 'Boring as S--t'

Ryan Garcia and Shakur Stevenson engaged in a war of words on social media after Garcia called the new WBC lightweight champion "arrogant."

"Shakur, he's been getting on my nerves since the amateurs," he said to BoxingScene.com's Manouk Akopyan. "He's so arrogant, and I don't say that about nobody."

Garcia added that Stevenson is "boring as s--t" and called Stevenson's unanimous decision victory over Edwin De Los Santos the "best night of sleep I've ever had."

Stevenson responded to a different interview by Garcia, which struck the same tone. He challenged Garcia on X, formerly known as Twitter, and said, "My bad nights I win on yo bad nights u lay down from a body shot and get up after the 10 counts."

Stevenson was referring to Garcia's seventh-round knockout at the hands of Gervonta Davis in April.

"We broke records and made life changing money, you broke a record of the least punches ever landed in a twelve round fight and made not even 10% of what we made," Garcia posted back. "Quiet your mouth kid."

In Garcia's defense, he wasn't the only person who came away somewhat underwhelmed by Stevenson's performance on Nov. 16. Per CompuBox, he landed just 65 total punches and threw fewer overall blows (209) than De Los Santos.

ESPN's Mike Coppinger was withering when he wrote in the immediate aftermath that "[Stevenson's] stock is down after one of the worst TV main events in recent memory." Longtime boxing writer Dan Rafael also called it "one of worst fights I've ever seen."

Even some fans inside T-Mobile Arena made their opinions known as they booed the action in the ring.

Garcia taking shots at Stevenson is nothing new. If he were trying to talk his way into a bout with the 26-year-old, he didn't help his cause with his performance against Davis.

For now, Garcia's focus will be on his Dec. 2 date with Oscar Duarte. Rebounding with a victory will likely put him in position for another big box-office spectacle in 2024.