Ryan Garcia won’t be fighting bare-knuckle anytime soon. BKB CEO David Tetreault told Bloody Elbow that his promotion’s conversations with the boxing star are about bringing him on as some kind of brand ambassador. Nobody is talking about Garcia stepping into the Trigon.
The speculation started at the beginning of October, when BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing posted an Instagram photo of Tetreault playing golf with Garcia. The caption read, “BKB leadership linked up with @kingryan for a conversation about boxing, the fight game, and what the future could hold. Plenty to talk about.” Then they tacked on the eyes emoji, which is how you get an entire comment section convinced a deal is done.
Bloody Elbow asked Tetreault about it during BKB 60 fight week in Newcastle, England, and he poured cold water on the idea without much ceremony.
“He’s a huge fan,” Tetreault said. “You know, look, I’m very close to Ryan and I’ve been close to him for a very long time. I want him to do everything he needs to do in his professional boxing world. He is the face of boxing right now. We just played a great match of golf.”
So that’s the golf. As for the boxing, Garcia has plenty on his plate. The 28-year-old stopped Conor Benn last month, and he has only one fight left on his current deal with Golden Boy Promotions. That’s about as strong a bargaining position as a fighter can have. Bloody Elbow’s read is that Dana White will likely want Garcia on his roster, and a guy heading into free agency off a stoppage of Benn doesn’t need to go looking for paydays without gloves.
BKB has had real success recruiting accomplished boxers anyway. Joseph Diaz was on the Newcastle card, and Tetreault pointed to the promotion’s policy of letting signed fighters keep competing in traditional boxing as a big reason guys like Diaz are coming over.
The Garcia BKB actually wants
There is a Garcia on BKB’s wish list, and his name is Sean. Ryan’s younger brother beat Abraham Morales last month for his first win in three years, and Tetreault told Bloody Elbow the promotion already has an opponent in mind.
“We’re in deep talks with his brother Sean about coming over and doing bare-knuckle and gearing him towards a fight with Amado Vargas,” he said. “That’s the goal. Sean would have to agree to it. He still wants to do his traditional boxing.”
The history there is the hook. Vargas stopped Sean back in 2024, then made his BKB debut in July. A rematch without gloves gives Sean a shot at payback and gives BKB a story it can sell.
My take: the emoji did exactly what emojis do. It made a golf outing look like a contract signing, and BKB got a week of free attention out of it. I’ll give Tetreault credit for answering the question straight when asked, though. The Sean Garcia versus Amado Vargas rematch is a better fight to book anyway, a guy who just snapped a three-year winless skid getting a crack at the man who stopped him. That one only needs a signature from Sean, and by Tetreault’s own account he still wants to box.
