- READ MORE: Ryan Garcia opens up on his drugs ban and retirement from boxing
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Ryan Garcia used his enforced break from boxing to try his hand at a new career: stand-up comedy.
The troubled fighter was recently given a one-year suspension from the sport after testing positive for the banned substance ostarine in tests administered before his fight with Devin Haney.
On Saturday night, Garcia took to the stage at Laugh Factory, with clips of his set appearing on social media.
The boxer was introduced by controversial comic Chris D'Elia, who told the crowd that Garcia wanted to try comedy for the first time in his life.
'This is hard, this is really f***ing hard,' D'Elia told the crowd. 'This dude is a fighter and he said: "Do you have any tips for me? I said yes, one. "It's not going to go the way you think it is"'
Ryan Garcia tried his hand at stand-up comedy after being handed a one-year doping ban
The troubled fighter began to shadowbox midway through his comedy routine on Saturday
D'Elia was last year accused of sexual harassment, abuse and assault by multiple women - three years after the star was hit by sexual misconduct allegations. He denied the allegations.
The comic remained on the stage - 'just in case s*** goes crazy' - and then handed the microphone over to Garcia.
'Hi guys, I'm a boxer. But I'm currently banned from boxing for a year,' he said, sparking boos from the crowd.
Rather than tell jokes, Garcia then discussed his recent PED scandal. 'I didn't cheat, I didn't do anything - just to to be clear,' he said.
'I've been doing anything to try to save my life. I've only boxed since I was 7 years old. So they said that maybe I can be a stand-up comedian.'
After D'Elia hyped up the crowd, urging them to support Garcia, the troubled boxer started shadowboxing on stage.
Garcia reached a settlement with the New York State Athletic Commission over his failed tests
'Worst (comes to) worst, I just start shadow boxing,' he said. 'I just woke up. And I was drunk already and I woke up even more drunk... I never took steroids - the truth is the truth and a lie is a lie.'
Garcia recently reached a settlement with the New York State Athletic Commission, after testing positive for ostarine in tests taken before the fight on April 20.
He will serve a one-year suspension, forfeit his $1.2million contract purse and pay a $10,000 fine, while his victory over Haney will also be officially changed to a no-contest.
The troubled boxer worried fans in the leadup to the fight with a series of disturbing social media posts and was recently arrested for felony vandalism in Beverly Hills.
