Concerns have been raised about Garcia’s mental well-being after a string of worrying social media posts from the youngster ahead of his WBC super-lightweight world title fight against Haney on April 20.
Fans first began to suspect something was wrong with Garcia after he admitted to being high in an interview.
Garcia then started to spam his social media accounts with several bizarre posts including a video claiming he was dead.
He has since vowed to refrain from talking about non-boxing topics online.
But McKenzie, a mental health ambassador and former three-weight world champion, is concerned about the way Garcia has been acting.
Speaking about the rising contender on talkSPORT’s Fight Night on Saturday, he said: “I think Ryan Garcia is walking a very fine line.
“He could go either way, to be honest with you. I think when you’re a world champion, you have to carry yourself as a world champion.
“I don’t really see that in Ryan Garcia’s makeup right now. He’s publicly said he smokes weed, drinks alcohol and gets drunk regularly.
These aren’t the sort of sort of traits you would expect of a world champion. These are the traits of somebody who’s clearly on the edge.”
It’s not too late. You can schedule a fight three months, six months, however long it takes for this boy to get right in his own mind because he’s clearly not.
“It’s not rocket science, he can get seriously and will get seriously hurt if this fight goes. I’m pretty sure of that.”
In 2021, Garcia took a break from boxing to focus on his mental health.
The 25-year-old admitted that he had to overcome ‘suicidal thoughts’ to get back into the ring
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