Early career Garcia turned professional at age 17 on June 9, 2016. In his first professional bout, he fought against Edgar Meza in
Tijuana, winning the match by TKO. Garcia soon signed with
Golden Boy Promotions in November 2016. In October 2018, Garcia started training with Eddy Reynoso, who also trained
Canelo Álvarez and
Óscar Valdez at their gym in San Diego, California. In September 2019, Garcia extended his contract with a new five-year deal with Golden Boy Promotions. Specific details of the multi-year deal were not disclosed.
Rise up the ranks Garcia vs. Duno Golden Boy announced Garcia's next bout would be the co-main event of
Canelo Álvarez vs. Sergey Kovalev at the
MGM Grand Garden Arena. On September 18, 2019
Romero Duno was announced as Garcia's next opponent. Garcia defeated Duno with a first-round knockout, capturing the
WBC Silver lightweight title.
Garcia vs. Fonseca On January 2, 2020, Golden Boy announced Garcia would be facing
Francisco Fonseca on February 14 at the
Honda Center in
Anaheim. Garcia landed seven punches in the fight before landing a lead left hook which knocked out Fonseca in the first round.
WBC interim lightweight champion Garcia vs. Campbell On October 8, it was announced Garcia would be facing Olympic gold medalist
Luke Campbell for the interim WBC lightweight title at
Fantasy Springs Resort in
Indio, California. The fight was originally scheduled for December 5, 2020, but was pushed back to January 2, 2021, due to Campbell contracting
COVID-19. The venue was also changed to the
American Airlines Center in
Dallas, Texas. In round 2 of his fight with Campbell, Garcia was knocked down for the first time in his professional career. He survived the knockdown, as he got up shortly after hitting the canvas. Later on in the fight, in round 7, Garcia hit Luke Campbell with a fight-ending body shot.
CompuBox statistics show Garcia outlanded Campbell 94 to 74 (32%) in total punches, and 77 to 51 (44%) in power punches, with Campbell outlanding Garcia in jabs 23 to 17 (15%). The fight was ultimately Campbell's last bout before his retirement.
Cancelled bouts vs. Fortuna and Diaz On April 13, 2021, it was announced by DAZN that Garcia would defend his newly won WBC interim lightweight title against Dominican former
WBA (Regular) super-featherweight champion,
Javier Fortuna. The bout was set for July 9 in a location to be determined, and the winner would become the mandatory challenger to WBC lightweight champion,
Devin Haney. However, on April 24, Garcia announced he had withdrawn from the bout, to "manage his health and well being". Former
IBF super-featherweight champion Joseph Diaz agreed to move up to lightweight to fill in for Garcia and fight Fortuna on July 9. Garcia was subsequently stripped of his newly crowned WBC interim lightweight title, with the title being on the line for Diaz and Fortuna instead. On October 8, 2021, it was announced that Garcia would be challenging Joseph Diaz in Los Angeles on November 27 for his WBC interim lightweight title following Díaz's victory over Fortuna, the same title Garcia had held after beating Luke Campbell and was subsequently stripped of earlier in 2021. On October 15, 2021, Mike Coppinger of ESPN revealed that García suffered a hand injury and the fight with Diaz was to be postponed. However, the bout ultimately never materialized.
Non-title fights Garcia vs. Tagoe On February 4, 2022, it was announced that Garcia would be returning to the ring after a long spell of inactivity against former
IBO lightweight champion
Emmanuel Tagoe on April 9. Prior to the fight, Garcia left Reynoso and started training with Joe Goossen. He easily dominated Tagoe, winning by unanimous decision with scores of 119–108, 119–108, and 118–109; this was his first bout to go the 12-round distance. He scored a knockdown in the second round and hurt Tagoe badly in the tenth, but was unable to finish his cagey opponent.
Garcia vs. Fortuna On July 16, 2022, Garcia faced
Javier Fortuna in a
super-lightweight bout at the
Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. Garcia dominated the fight, scoring knockdowns in rounds four, five, and six, with the referee stopping the fight after the third knockdown. All the judges had scored the fight identically 50–43 prior to the stoppage, giving Garcia every round. Garcia received praise for his performance, which was described as being an improvement over his performance against Tagoe.
Garcia vs. Davis On February 24, 2023, it was announced that Garcia would face WBA
(Regular) lightweight champion Gervonta Davis on April 22, in
Las Vegas, Nevada, in a non-title
catchweight bout held at 136 lbs with a rehydration clause of 10 lbs. The long-awaited bout was a joint PPV event between
Showtime and
DAZN. Despite an explosive start from Garcia that saw him applying heavy pressure to Davis, Garcia was knocked down in the second round by a counter left, which led to Davis retaking control. Garcia took a knee in the seventh round following a body shot and was unable to rise on the referee's count of ten, losing by KO. This was Garcia's first loss as a professional. Following the fight, Garcia was criticized by some boxing figures for failing to continue; in an appearance on
Max on Boxing,
Timothy Bradley said that Garcia "quit," stating: "Listen to me. If you can get up at 11, why can't you get up at 9? If you can look up, you can get up, Max, and he chose not to." Promoter
Eddie Hearn stated "you can't say that he didn't quit. But I don't blame him for doing it, like most people in that position would've done that. But quitting is deciding not to continue and he decided not to continue." Garcia left his trainer, Goossen, a week after the Davis fight and hired
Derrick James as his trainer in May 2023.
Garcia vs. Duarte Garcia faced Oscar Duarte at the
Toyota Center in
Houston, Texas. The fight took place on December 2, 2023. Garcia won the fight by KO in the 8th round after landing a combination late in the round rendering Duarte unable to beat the count of the referee.
Garcia vs. Haney On February 9, 2024, it was announced that Garcia vs.
Devin Haney was signed for April 20 in Las Vegas, Nevada for the
WBC super lightweight title. Two days before the fight, Garcia agreed to a wager with Haney that Garcia would pay $500,000 for every pound over the limit should he miss weight. Garcia later weighed in at 143.2lbs, 3.2lbs over the championship limit, and would forfeit up to $600,000 of his purse to Haney. Garcia was not eligible to win the title. Garcia won the bout via
majority decision (114–110, 115–109, 112–112), knocking down Haney in rounds 7, 10 and 11 before coming away with the victory. On May 1, Voluntary Anti-Doping Association notified all involved parties that Garcia had tested positive for
Ostarine, a performance-enhancing drug, the day before and the day of his fight with Haney. Garcia responded via social media and denied having taken performance-enhancing drugs, citing his willingness to take the drug test. On June 20, the bout was changed to a no contest; Garcia was fined $1.1 million and suspended for a year due to testing positive for
Ostarine, a performance enhancing drug. Garcia had made a settlement with the commission that avoids a hearing.
Garcia vs. Romero In January 2025, it was reported that Garcia would face
Isaac Cruz in New York City in May. Later that same month, it was announced that Garcia would instead face
Rolando Romero. In early March, the fight against Romero was confirmed to be held in Times Square in New York on May 2, 2025. Garcia lost the fight by unanimous decision, being knocked down by Romero with a double
left hook in the second round.
Expulsion from WBC On July 4, 2024, Garcia was expelled by the
WBC president
Mauricio Sulaimán after using racial slurs against black people and disparaging Muslims in comments livestreamed on social media. He was also called out on social networks being rumored that he was abusing illegal substances. Sulaiman said that Garcia declined multiple attempts by the WBC to help with his mental health and substance abuse. Garcia's family released a statement saying, "Ryan has been open about his ongoing struggle with mental health over the years and as a family we are committed to ensuring and encouraging that he receives the necessary help to navigate this very challenging time and address both his immediate and long-term well-being." Garcia defeated Barrios via a 12 round unanimous decision; Garcia scored a knockdown in the 1st round. ==Other ventures==