Last yr, after Jake Paul’s scheduled fight with Gervonta Davis was pulled because of domestic abuse allegations against Davis, Paul was left without an opponent. It was then that Paul’s representatives reached out to several high-profile names, including Ryan Garcia, for a fight. Nevertheless, after Garcia passed on the prospect, Anthony Joshua took up the chance as a substitute.
In Dec. 2025, Joshua defeated Paul in a dominating sixth-round victory. Now, ahead of his WBC welterweight World title match against Mario Barrios on Feb. 21, 2026, Garcia has revealed the rationale behind turning down Paul’s offer. Speaking on his livestream, Garcia declared that as a substitute of choosing the cash, he committed himself to the World title fight.
“I’ll be down 20lb, I don’t care, my speed will take over. I’d give you the chance to get him. They offered me like $20million or $25million, after which I said – that’s like nothing!” Garcia said. “No, but I used to be like, ‘Man, I need this world title.’”
“In my heart, I desired to fight for the world title. It could have sidetracked me crazy,” Garcia finished.
Ryan Garcia says Jake Paul offered him $20–25 million for a fight, but he turned it down, because he desired to fight for a world title 👀🏆 pic.twitter.com/pHrx8pqO0v
— Source of Boxing (@Sourceofboxing) January 14, 2026
Battling controversies and difficulties, including a suspension following a positive drug test, Garcia returned last yr in May. 2025, against Rolando Romero in a losing cause. Despite the recent setbacks, Garcia stays one of the prolific names in boxing.
KSI also turned down $26.8 million offer to fight Jake Paul
While Jake Paul currently finds himself suspended from fighting after the Anthony Joshua match, KSI recently revealed why he turned down the offer to fight “The Problem Child” Jake Paul despite several lucrative monetary offers.
“I have been offered £20 million ($26.8 million) to fight Jake Paul, £30m ($40 million) to fight Jake Paul. These guys cannot give me any amount of cash to fight this guy,” KSI said. “My foremost goal once I got into the boxing ring again was to fight Jake Paul and construct Misfits. I built Misfits, tried to fight Jake Paul time and time and time again, but there was excuse after excuse after excuse.”