Ryan Garcia has had an eventful and trying 12 months – including wrecking a hotel room that he now says he did while on mushrooms – and is finally talking about it all in greater detail.

Garcia guested on the “Ring Champs with Ak & Barak” podcast, which premiered Wednesday, to discuss his behavior leading up to last April’s fight with Devin Haney, as well as his struggles since, with hosts Akin Reyes and Kamal Barak Bess.

Garcia, 26, seemed almost manic and out of control at times during the promotion of the Haney fight, during which he chugged a beer at the weigh-in, showed up more than three pounds heavy and, it was later revealed, tested positive for a performance-enhancer. Garcia scored three knockdowns of Haney and won a unanimous decision that was later changed to a no-contest. He was also suspended and fined as a result of his failed drug test.

His erratic behavior continued in the months after, and in June he was arrested for vandalizing a room at a Beverly Hills hotel. Garcia addressed the incident with Reyes and Bess.

“I decided to take a bunch of ‘shrooms, and it was something I was doing already, but this time I took too many and I kinda just lost it, bro,” Garcia said.

“Yeah, I ended up breaking everything in the room. I really don’t remember, bro. I was drunk and fucked up.

“I was doing stuff that was hurting my career,” Garcia continued. “Nothing was going to get to me, bro. I swear, I was in a whole different universe. … I am surprised I am here right now. I was drinking every day. Every single day, even the day of the [Haney] fight. I just got so involved in trying to cope with whatever was inside. Like I’ve said, I have been struggling mentally for years, and it just wouldn’t stop for me.

“The turning point was when I said, ‘Damn, I’m fucking my life up.’ Getting arrested was a big part of it. Almost losing my kid was a big part of it.”

Garcia, 24-1 (20 KOs), is scheduled to fight Rolando “Rolly” Romero on May 2 in New York’s Times Square in a blockbuster card that includes a Haney fight against Jose Ramirez. Garcia is angling toward a rematch with Haney, but Romero, 16-2 (13 KOs), isn’t to be overlooked.

On the podcast, Garcia describes a bygone sparring session with Romero that turned into a learning lesson.

“I have always wanted to put a stake into it,” Garcia said. “He had an OK sparring match. He roughed me up. It actually taught me a lot, you know, because I was sparking everybody out, in sparring in the Mayweather gym. It taught me a lot about what people are going to try to do to me in the ring. It made me better.”

Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Chicago Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at LinkedIn and followed on X and Bluesky.