SAN DIEGO – Ryan Garcia showed up at Thursday’s media workout clear-eyed, calm and confident – a sharp departure from the chaotic, crazed figure who brought nonstop volatility to last year’s three-knockdown victory over Devin Haney that was later changed to a no-contest.

Nearly one year to the day from that performance at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, which was sabotaged by Garcia’s three positive tests for the banned performance-enhancing drug ostarine, the popular Southern Californian discussed his readiness for his May 2 return atop the one-of-its-kind card to be staged at New York’s Times Square.

Garcia, 24-1 (20 KOs), will meet former WBA 140lbs titleholder Rolando Romero, 16-2 (13 KOs), for the WBA secondary welterweight belt.

“Every camp has its challenges,” Garcia said in reflecting on the maddening Haney camp that was fraught with rambling social-media posts and alcohol use.

“I felt like playing mind games with them. I talked a lot of crazy things, thinking, ‘I’ll out-crazy the crazy.’

“Took it a little too far, but I did win.”

Following a one-year suspension by the New York State Athletic Commission and an arrest for vandalism at a Beverly Hills hotel, Garcia engaged in heart-to-heart talks with his family, headed by father Henry Garcia, and resolved to change his ways.

Asked by BoxingScene what brought him comfort and peace, Ryan Garcia said, “Taking a break from everything. I took a break from social media, just not really posting a lot, not saying anything. You get lost in trying to be entertaining on [Instagram], trying to get clicks, trying to get a reaction.

“Taking a step back from that, getting back to reality, hanging out with my family, you feel a sense of reality getting back into your system and start understanding not everything has to be on the internet.”

Garcia’s conspiracy-driven, frantic and obsessive posts halted, sanity restored.

“I kind of got bored with the social-media stuff. I did it so much. I feel like I was the top boxer doing it. What more was there to do? I could only do so much with training-camp videos,” he said.

“Now I want to get back in the ring, focus on my craft. I’ll still be posting, of course, but not as deliberate as I was.”

Those who know Garcia best, including his father, as well as promoter Oscar De La Hoya, feel Garcia has come to understand all that’s possible by righting himself.

He returns to this rare venue that one insider told BoxingScene is costing Saudi Arabia boxing financier Turki Alalshikh more than $10 million to stage inside a 19ft by 19ft ring that will be viewed up close by a small group of (less than 300) VIPs, and draw an unknown volume from the New York public to the spectacle.

At 26, Garcia stands as the prime successor to take over Cinco de Mayo weekend from former promotional teammate Saul "Canelo" Alvarez in the years to come.

“He’s picked up where he left off, from the point that he knows what I expect now,” Garcia trainer Derrick James said while shifting camp from Texas for the Haney fight to San Diego for Romero. “I’m seeing the power, the speed, the athleticism. Rolly is a power puncher who’ll be trying to knock Ryan out, but Ryan is strong and smart. He’s cool, he’s good.”

Conditioning coach Justin Fortune, who has worked with Manny Pacquiao, Mike Tyson and James Toney, similarly vouches for Garcia.

“Ryan has trained hard. … He trains to the point of nearly overtraining, and that’s what champions do,” Fortune said. “Our goal is to be in shape, on time, on weight. He’s 6lbs over with two weeks to go. This is an easy weight for him. Yes, he has that great left hook [that decked Haney three times], and his right hand is just as strong.”

Garcia expressed determination to prove the substance found in his system against Haney meant nothing, even as Haney’s father-trainer-manager, Bill Haney, telephoned BoxingScene after Thursday’s DAZN-streamed workout to say, “I thought Ryan looked smaller …”

Said Garcia: “I’ve got a lot to prove with the Devin Haney rematch [next]. There’s something extra there, with Bill talking … it’s just unfortunate. I did it the first time. It’s an opportunity to do it again.

“Coming off a performance like that, it was so exhilarating. I had to battle mentally after [the positive drug tests were revealed] because I was extremely irritated by what I feel is an injustice which I never really got the chance to defend – which, if I did, what can you really say?

“It just baffles me every time I think about it. That was supposed to be the victory of my life. … I always knew I could beat those guys. It is what it is.

“Here, I’m just looking to get back into it. A year off is a year off. “Consistency is key, so I’m looking to be the boxer I can be after a year off, shaking off the ring rust, being sharp, having my eyes there, understanding the situation well so I can be prepared going into the Haney [rematch, planned for the early fall]. I don’t expect this to be easy.”

De La Hoya wasn’t as cautious after being lifted by the brief session Garcia produced, which included some one-on-one conversations between the pair.

“Its going to be fun to watch – explosive,” De La Hoya predicted of May 2. “Ryan Garcia at peace and focused is a dangerous Ryan Garcia.

“I’m just happy he’s at peace. I told him I can see it in his eyes. I’ve been through what he’s been through 100 times over. So I know where he’s at, what he’s feeling, what he’s thinking. He’s in a great place, and that’s going to be a dangerous place for any opponent he faces.”

Garcia was asked what the audience should expect as he squares off against a rival who has long sought this showdown.

“They’re going to be impressed with my technique, my ring generalship, and if I catch that dude, they’re going to be impressed by the knockout,” Garcia said. “In this fight, a lot of things can happen. He’s going to be throwing bombs, so that’s going to open him up, and it’s up to me to time the shot correctly and see what approach he has.

“[Romero] tried to box the last few times, moving around. I don’t really know what style he’s going to try to bring. It could be one of those fights I’m just boxing, tagging him up. I can see him getting desperate, and crack!

“I’m underestimated most of the time, but my talent prevails, and it will again May 2.”

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.