Ryan Garcia: TBE Boxing Marketer?
The Social Media Influencer Turned Boxing Heel
In case you missed it, Ryan Garcia just shocked the world with his win over Devin Haney this weekend, and his marketing strategy was — genius?
Even if you’re not a boxing fan, you might recognize Ryan Garcia from his collaborations with top social media influencers like the Paul brothers, Lele Pons, and Selena Gomez.
Despite his popularity, there were rumors that the April 20th fight with Ryan’s long-time boxing rival was struggling to attract interest.
Enter boxing’s marketing consultant, Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr.
In 2007 Mayweather rebranded himself from “Pretty Boy” to “Money,” adopting a love-to-hate persona. This shift helped him punch through earnings records, pulling in $230M from his fight against Manny Pacquiao and $280M against Conor McGregor.
Leading up to the fight, Ryan and Floyd were spotted together numerous times outside of the gym. With interest around Ryan’s fight being lackluster at best, it’s hard not to wonder if their discussions leaned more towards marketing than boxing.
Ryan’s choice of content during the weeks before the fight suggest it might have been the latter.
Garcia shifted from his usual high-speed shadowboxing and mitt-work content to sharing some of the most provocative (and somewhat concerning) content on the internet, such as involvement with underground political groups, the recent P. Diddy allegations, and sharing his own traumatic experiences growing up.
There was no ignoring the buzz. Almost every move Ryan made went viral, from his seemingly unhinged press conferences to him missing weight while drinking a “beer” on the scale.
It was clear — Ryan, the social media superstar, turned heel too. But did it work as well as it did for Floyd?
Let’s take a look:
✅ The day before the fight, “Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney” ranked #1 and #3 on Google Trends with 1M searches each — the number 4 spot having 200K searches.
✅ While the final PPV numbers and ticket sales aren’t available online, DAZN’s highlight reel boasts 8.9M views in just over a day, surpassing the views of SHOWTIME’s two highlight videos of Ryan’s previous fight against Tank Davis combined.
✅ It’s rumored that Ryan is taking home $50M in earnings (including $12M he reportedly won by betting on himself).
I’d have to say that’s a pretty good ROI.
