Ryan Garcia has a sharp mind that matches his hand speed inside the ring. While he’s already in talks for a big fight, he seems to have locked his sights on another marquee matchup.

His comments after Shakur Stevenson shared his thoughts on the rumored Devin Haney fight reflect a keen understanding of fight dynamics and game planning. A post from Ring Magazine’s Inside the Ring podcast triggered the exchange.

“Devin Haney and Shakur Stevenson are in preliminary talks for a fight,” it read. “(Mike Coppinger) has revealed on @InsideRingShow. Agreements around weight are currently holding up the discussions.”

But Stevenson quickly pushed back on the update.

“I know fans like to get excited, and they could play with y’all heads and manipulate y’all easily, but that rumor is cap for the 2nd time,” the four-division champion wrote. “I haven’t heard one word about that; idk what they’re trying to cover up or disguise, but for me and my team, we haven’t heard sh*t.”

As the post gained massive traction, Ryan Garcia caught wind of it and quickly shot back, “I told you.”

The remarks turned into an exchange when Stevenson, confused by Garcia’s response, asked what he meant.

Ryan Garcia shifts path but stays locked on Shakur Stevenson

Garcia then explained that he wasn’t trying to put him down or suggest he was avoiding the fight against Haney. Instead, he said he believed the fight had a slim chance of getting finalized at this stage.

Some skeptics, however, refused to buy that argument and questioned whether Garcia made those comments out of dislike for Stevenson getting a marquee fight.

“If they fight, I’ll simply say I’m wrong,” Garcia then clarified. “I’m not hating, but I know none of them have it in them to run that.”

Still, the exchange fed directly into the larger picture around Garcia’s ambitions.

Right after he defeated Mario Barrios and became a first-time title holder, the Californian native made it clear who he wants to fight next.

“You know who I want. He’s right there. Shakur Stevenson. Let’s go. Let’s run that sh*t,” Garcia said during the post-fight interview.

“I want to be a great champion, and I’m not scared of sh*t. I fought Devin Haney. I’ll fight Shakur Stevenson. I’ll fight anybody. Let’s f**king go.”

Yet despite that open call-out, Garcia’s push slowed as talks ran into hurdles tied to Stevenson’s conditions on the rehydration clause.

From there, Garcia shifted his focus to Conor Benn, who also happens to be his mandatory challenger in the welterweight division.

While nothing has been finalized, reports indicate the two sides are working toward a fight likely to take place in the latter half of this year.

The latest development adds another layer to Garcia’s profile. Whatever the controversies, once inside the ring, he shuts them down with an electric display of speed and power. Outside it, he continues to stay active in the conversation, always a step ahead of the competition.

While he’s hardly in a position to control whether Stevenson and Haney agree to fight, he can still fire shots from the outside that keep his name in the mix. A fight against Stevenson or a rematch with Haney both underline his ambition to cement a legacy still shaped as much by controversy as by in-ring performances.