Ryan Garcia suffered a shock points defeat to Rolando Romero in New York on Friday night.

The 26-year-old from California was making his return to the sport after serving a one-year suspension which was handed to him after it was discovered that he had tested positive for a banned substance prior to his bout against Devin Haney last April.

Garcia was floored by ‘Rolly’ in the second round of their contest at the iconic Times Square in New York City, which was contested for the regular version of the WBA welterweight title. Romero put on arguably the most mature performance of his career to keep Garcia at bay for the duration and get the nod across all three of the judges’ cards.

In light of this huge upset defeat for ‘King Ryan’, newly-crowned undisputed super-middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez has given an honest reaction to his former stablemate’s performance.

Speaking to Fight Hub TV, Canelo said ‘these things happen’ in sport.

“I feel sorry for him, I feel sorry for him but it’s boxing and you know, these things happen.”

Garcia had been scheduled to face rival Devin Haney in a rematch later this year, although the hype has now been considerably dulled and the highly anticipated second encounter between the pair will likely not be going ahead as planned. He may instead look to run it back with ‘Rolly.’

Haney also made his return to the ring on the Times Square card on Friday night, as he clearly defeated former unified super-lightweight champion Jose Ramirez in what was an underwhelming twelve rounds.