Haney-Garcia media tour: Good natured to extremely personal
Entertaining boasts and trash talk on Day 1 give way to hard drug use accusations, racial language and ill will on Day 2
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The two-city press tour to promote the heavily anticipated showdown between WBC junior welterweight Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia began Tuesday in New York City with an energetic and engaging news conference featuring back-and-forth between the camps, humorous trash talk and seemingly good-natured bashing and boasting from both sides.
Then second leg on Thursday in Los Angeles, however, devolved into the gutter with a coarse program that included personal and mean-spirited attacks that touched on drug use accusations and blatant racial language.
Haney and Garcia, whose split of six amateur fights against each other is a major storyline of the bout, are set to meet in a big-time showdown Golden Boy Promotions has dubbed “This One Counts” on April 20 (DAZN PPV, PPV.com in U.S., DAZN around the world) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
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Garcia took his place at the New York event as models dropped flower petals at his feet and he sat on a gold throne. He showed up the L.A. presser dressed in white and riding a horse. Haney made a normal entrance each time.
Golden Boy chairman Oscar De La Hoya, who put the fight together with Bill Haney, Devin’s father, manager and trainer, welcomed everybody each day to what he called “the fight of the year” and Bill explained how it came together (despite Garcia briefly halting talks to pursue a fight with WBA titlist Rolly Romero instead before Romero took a different fight for less money).
“An assignment that Devin sent me to do was to approach the only human being who's a Hall of Fame fighter and a Hall of Fame (caliber) promoter, and that’s Oscar De La Hoya,” Bill Haney said. “And I put the onus on him. I said, ‘Listen, when you were a Hall of Fame fighter, you fought everybody, so as a Hall of Fame promoter, I put the onus on you that you are now going to make the fight between two guys in their prime just like you did. … If both fighters wanted to fight he would assure that it happened and he was a man of his word and we made it happen.”
The fight is the opportunity for a big event for Haney and Garcia. Haney (31-0, 15 KOs), 25, of Las Vegas, the former undisputed lightweight champion, moved up to junior welterweight and rolled past Regis Prograis with shocking ease in December in a shutout decision to take his 140-pound title. Garcia represents by far the highest profile, most lucrative opponent available.
Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs), 25, of Los Angeles, got knocked out with a body shot in the seventh round by Gervonta Davis last April in a blockbuster pay-per-view and returned to stop Oscar Duarte in December, but now he is back in a really big fight with a chance to truly make up for the loss to Davis, which many said only ended because Garcia quit while on a knee after the knockdown.
With all that as the backdrop to Haney-Garcia, even the long-running feud between Garcia and De La Hoya, who remain engaged in litigation in Nevada over his promotional contract, seemed on hold as they sat next to each other, embraced, fist bumped and laughed together in New York and again were chummy in L.A.
“These fighters are fighting the very best at a young age and we don’t see that anymore,” De La Hoya said from the podium. “This fight here truly is the best against the best. And when I saw Ryan Garcia for the first time throwing his punches, fighting in the amateurs, I did see something special and he’s proven it many times over. It doesn’t mean just because you lose one fight that you’re career is over. It means that you have the opportunity to get right back up and prove to the world that you are the best.”
Bill Haney riffed on Garcia’s model looks and the fact that his son is the clear favorite.
“It doesn’t mater the state or the place because Devin’s gonna beat up Ryan’s pretty little face and there are going to be some men that are happy and there are some girls that are gonna be cryin’ because by round five down goes Ryan.”
Trash talk ensued between the fighters, of course.
“When I first came into the game, I just wanted to make a bunch of money and then I did that, but now I want to go for the legacy,” Garcia said. “I want to go for the belts and Devin’s in the way. I’m on my vengeance arc. I’m ready to get back in blood in everything, so I’m coming straight for his neck. I promise you that I’m coming straight for you. It’s going to be ugly. … We’re gonna fight April 20 and I’m gonna destroy you. I’m gonna beat the shit out of him.”
Haney responded: “We seen Ryan quit before. We seen him take a knee before and quit and on April 20 it wont be no different. … We’ve been rivals since we were 9, 10 years old. Now it’s time to seal the deal. It’s time. It counts for everything on April 20.”
Garcia said he decided it was the right time to face Haney following his brilliant performance against Prograis.
“I felt like he’s picking up steam, finally became more of a draw and big potential for a great fight and a great event,” Garcia said. “This is just the perfect timing. It’s for the WBC belt; it’s at a healthy weight, 140. Everything’s on the line. I think this is the right moment.”
Haney continued to harp his perception that Garcia quit against Davis: “He know he don’t have the skills, or the IQ. He don’t have the heart. We seen him quit. We seen you take a knee and on April 20 it won’t be no different. When it gets hot you quit.”
Garcia shot back, “I’m not going to make him quit, I’m gonna knock him the fuck out.”
Bill Haney interjected that Devin would KO Garcia in the first and round. “Will you retire if you get knocked out in the first round,” he asked.
Garcia said he would, got up and shook his hand as if it was a bet before the fighters posed for an animated face off.
But when they hit L.A. it was all downhill. The fighters showed up more than hour late and then things got awfully uncomfortable when Garcia took the podium, spoke in a very raspy voice and Haney brought up drug use, apparently reacting to images on social media from the night before of Garcia smoking.
“What the fuck happened to your voice,” Haney said. “Stop the coke, it’s fucking up your voice.”
Garcia’s explanation was that he had been yelling for a series of promos for the fight and then added, “I wanted to clarify some things. I don’t do cocaine. I would do a live drug test. I drink and I smoke weed — and so has the majority of this room.”
Haney took exception to the response: “What kind of example are you? The younger generation should look up to us.”
Garcia, who looked a bit out of sorts, went on: “You’ve finally got someone raising your hand, saying, ‘I do drink, I do smoke.’ Now what? It’s OK. Guess what. We all have our flaws and we all have flaws as people. I’m 25 years old, you’ve got to remember, sometimes the weight of the world feels like it’s on my shoulders. I don’t know how many people have been 25 years old and made $100 million in their life and can do what they want. I want to see what you would do in my shoes — probably a lot more than some weed.”
There was also Haney being interrupted from the audience by Lisa Garcia, Ryan’s mother; Bill Haney doing the same to her; and then Ryan’s father, Henry Garcia, who was seated at on stage, making matters far worse.
Bill Haney had cracked to Lisa, “I don’t respect the man with the toupee over there, your husband.”
Henry Garcia’s response was, “Nappy head motherfucker,” describing Bill’s hair with a term that is considered offensive to Black people.
“Nappy head?” Devin Haney shouted. “That sounds like some racist shit.”
Henry Garcia kept it up, responding, “That’s what he’s looking like — I’m sorry — a nappy head.”
Devin, clearly upset, gave Henry something of a lecture, “Us African-Americans, we have more coarse hair than you Latinos. But that does not make our hair nappy.”
Back and forth they went and it was clear that most on the dais were uncomfortable where things were going, especially Derrick James, Garcia’s trainer, who is Black and was seated next to Henry.
“That was very unprofessional,” Devin Haney concluded. “April 20, the world will see. My hard work will pay off and we get this guy out of boxing. He’s a fucking clown — him and his family.”
It was just the infancy of the promotion, but it turned ugly very quickly. Just imagine how bad it figures to get with the fight still seven weeks away.
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Photos: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing and Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy
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I wonder if this fight is going to happen Dan it’s seven weeks away and he’s drinking and smoking weed and it looks from afar his metal state is very unsteady I think if it happens Haney will win easy unless Garcia gets in a healthy state of mind and trains hard I think he is not coping with the pressure how is he going be in the ring
He had an entertaining fight with loma