Ryan Garcia badly misses weight, just as Haney predicted he would
Fight goes on despite continued erratic and unhinged behavior; details of the deal the camps cut in the aftermath of weigh-in
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Throughout the promotion, WBC junior welterweight titleholder Devin Haney said he did not believe Ryan Garcia would be able to make the 140-pound division limit and he taunted him about it.
But Garcia brushed it off and insisted he would, even shaking hands with Haney at the fight-week news conference on Thursday in the one civil moment between the two as Garcia agreed to pay Haney $500,000 per pound he was over the limit that he swore he would make.
But to little surprise, Garcia did not come close making weight on Friday for their main event of a Golden Boy card on Saturday (PPV.com, $79.99, DAZN PPV, 8 p.m. ET) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Prior to the Friday afternoon ceremonial weigh-in, they held a closed door official weigh-in at 11:30 a.m. ET and Haney, who had to strip nude, a source in the room told Fight Freaks Unite, was exactly 140 pounds for his first title defense.
However, Garcia was 143.2 pounds, 3.2 over the limit after having cut more than 10 pounds overnight, a source with knowledge of his weight cut said.
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Bill Haney, Devin’s father, trainer and manager, then made a deal with Team Garcia for the fight to go forward. That agreement calls for Garcia to pay Haney $600,000 out of his purse plus 2 percent of whatever profit he may derive from the pay-per-view if it reaches a predetermined number of buys, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the agreement told Fight Freaks Unite.
Although they publicly agreed to the $500,000 per pound penalty the previous day, and both said it remained in affect in social media posts, it is simply not the case, the sources said, and that they are keeping up the appearance of the $500,000 per pound penalty as one of the terms of the amended contract.
Golden Boy Promotions issued a false statement saying so.
“Ryan has weighed in over his contractual weight. He will honor the handshake made at the final press conference,” the statement said. “We have a fight.”
Garcia also will not be required to appear at a Saturday morning weight check, which is typical in his sort of situation.
Garcia loses the opportunity to win his first world title for missing weight. If Haney loses, however, he would still retain the belt, according to WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman.
It was just another episode in what has been a long promotion of chaos as it relates to Garcia and his apparent increasing mental instability.
When he arrived at the ceremonial weigh-in at Barclays Center, Garcia jumped right on the scale before Haney had arrived and without being introduced. While on the scale, Garcia drank something from a beer bottle before handing it off and then shouting and flexing.
After Haney was introduced and came to the scale, he and Garcia engaged in an intense faceoff in which Garcia took an exaggerated boxing stance with Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya between them. The fighters shouted at each other before Garcia abruptly turned away, went to the far side of the stage and began doing a wild dance.
When asked what he said Haney during the face off, Garcia shouted, “I just said meet me in the center of the fucking ring. … let’s fucking do it.”
As for badly missing weight, Garcia said, “I did my best, you know, make this weight. I put myself through hell.”
When the crowd began booing his answer, Garcia shouted into the mic, “Yeah, yeah, yeah! Suck my dick!” And then he continued, “At the end of the day I’m the best fighter here. I’m gonna knock him out and everybody’s gonna be cheering. Watch.”
Then Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs), 25, of Los Angeles, brought up the fabricated weight penalty: “I had to give him $1.5 million but that’s light work for me; come on now.”
Garcia, who has been an outspoken critic of fighters missing weight, was unapologetic, posting to social media, “Why would I force myself to make weight so I can be weak? Nah, I’m here to win. That’s it.”
And in another post, he wrote, “My balls got to heavy. And (my) back gained (too) much muscle from carrying the promo. And my fingers got stronger from all the tweets damn.”
Despite all the red flags about Garcia’s preparation and questions about whether he is physically and mentally prepared for the fight, De La Hoya insisted he was fine.
“Ryan’s ready, baby! Ryan is ready. It’s gonna be a fight,” De La Hoya said. “Let’s go!”
De La Hoya also ignored the weight issue.
“It’s all good, it’s all good, we’re all good,” he said. “We have a fight and that’s what people want to see.”
Garcia’s previous fight in December, an eighth-round knockout of Oscar Duarte, was originally agreed to at 140 pounds before being changed to 143 to accommodate Garcia.
Former undisputed lightweight champion Haney (31-0, 15 KOs), 25, of Las Vegas, who is a significant betting favorite, appeared to be in supreme condition and said he never considered calling off the fight over the weight discrepancy.
“Now it’s time for me to shine,” said Haney, who split six amateur fights with Haney. “He’s very unprofessional. I’m a true professional and I told him (Thursday at the press conference) his antics will betray him and this is just the start. (Saturday) the world will see I am levels above this average fighter.
“Of course, (I didn’t consider canceling the fight). It don’t matter what weight he came in. I’m a true champion and I will show it. I’ll end this pussy. Get him out of boxing. It’s over.”
Garcia’s behavior has been erratic for months, since the two-fight media tour to New York and Los Angeles in February to hype the fight.
Throughout the buildup to the fight he has unleashed a torrent of often bizarre social media posts — words, videos and audio — including many in which he has pushed a variety of conspiracy theories. In one video earlier this week, he appeared to be partying at a night club just days before the fight.
Haney has accused him repeatedly of using cocaine and of being drunk, and Garcia said he the New York commission put him through a recent mental health evaluation.
We broke out my recent interview with Devin Haney as a stand-alone episode of our podcast as he heads into Saturday’s WBC junior welterweight title defense against Ryan Garcia. Give it a listen, a review, and also subscribe to get an alert when the next episode is available. New shows every Thursday and Sunday night.
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This will be a whitewash I am not even going to buy the ppv too many good fights that are coming up that will get my money
No way am I paying for this garbage.