Ryan Garcia-Rolando Romero is a fight between two fresh-faced heels, but in a face-off with DAZN’s Chris Mannix, both boxers behaved themselves.

Garcia-Romero, a welterweight bout scheduled for May 2, will pit power against power – 20 of Garcia’s 24 wins have come by knockout, while Romero has 13 stoppages among his 16 victories. Garcia’s left hook is one of the most vaunted weapons in boxing, while Romero owns the distinction of hurting Gervonta “Tank” Davis, who described his punch as feeling like bricks were in his gloves.

There is also a gross undercurrent to the fight, however, given that Ryan Garcia is returning from a one-year ban following his positive tests for the banned substance ostarine. Clearly in the throes of a mental health crisis around the same time, Garcia spewed disturbing bigotry on social media, alienating himself from viewers and fellow boxers.

But during the face-off, Garcia was lucid and calm for the most part, not allowing his trash talk to cross into unfettered hate speech.

He and Romero rehashed a sparring session from eight years prior that Romero posted on YouTube (with a plug for his Instagram handle in the title just for good measure), in which he got the better of Garcia.

“It’s like a TV show that don’t wanna turn off,” Garcia said of the sparring session, which continues to constantly pop up online. “Damn, man, is this like Friends, it won’t stop?”

“I ain’t even gonna lie, I’m tired of watching that shit,” Romero agreed.

Garcia acknowledged that during the sparring session, Romero was able to grapple him into unfavorable positions. But since, he feels he has grown to become the bigger fighter, and has drawn confidence from the idea that Romero will no longer be able to push him around the ring.

Garcia also cast doubt on Romero’s chin, saying he was “looking for Easter eggs in the ring” during his stoppage loss to Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz, and that he no longer takes a punch as well as he once did.

Romero, meanwhile, took aim at Garcia’s defeat at the hands of Davis. “Yeah,” he said bluntly when Mannix asked him if he felt Garcia quit in the seventh round after taking a knee from a body shot. And how does he think the fight will end? “Ryan flatlined on the canvas. Or taking a knee.”

Garcia continued to shirk responsibility for his actions in his fight with Devin Haney, ripping Haney for suing him and for the result being changed from a Garcia majority decision win to a no-contest. He also claimed he couldn’t make the 140lbs limit, which beggars belief given his drinking during fight week and the chasm by which he missed weight. Garcia also seemed to believe that because he paid Haney for missing weight, the fact that he missed weight is irrelevant – never mind contracts signed, the professionalism he lacked, and the danger extra weight poses in the ring.

Though he’ll likely never be able to atone for his transgressions before the Haney fight, Garcia remains a box-office attraction in the sport. Only when he’s speaking respectfully, not intent on harming others or himself, is it possible to recall why.