Boxer Ryan Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) was unable to make weight for his scheduled fight against Devin Haney (31-0, 16 KOs) for the 140-pound super lightweight title on April 20 in New York.
Garcia came in at 3.2 pounds. overweight, forcing both sides to negotiate a deal that would allow the fight to go forward, but without the title.
Ryan with 3 extra kilos..
-Devin Haney (@Realdevinhaney) April 19, 2024
“Ryan weighed in at his contractual weight,” said a statement from Golden Boy Promotions. “He will honor the handshake made at the final press conference yesterday. We have a fight.”
Haney too posted in X that Garcia honored the bet.
Garcia appeared to make the costly mistake during the ceremonial weigh-in, jumping on the scale and drinking what appeared to be a beer. He later claimed on social media which was apple juice and sparkling water, after telling DAZN’s Ariel Helwani that it was actually beer.
How does he was interviewed about weight lossGarcia shouted “suck my dick” to the crowd and promised to knock Haney out.
The bet was an almost entirely self-inflicted wound for Garcia, who loudly proposed a $500,000 bet out of nowhere during the fighters’ press conference on Thursday. Haney, sensing an opportunity, responded by raising the price to $500,000 per pound. You can see the full trades here, with
The two fighters agreed to the deal, despite Garcia’s father trying to kill the deal behind the scenes. Garcia began making a graphic proposal to Haney’s mother.
“Something is wrong with this son of a bitch,” Haney said, as Garcia laughed. “Something is wrong with him. This shit isn’t normal.”
The whole incident, which you can watch here with a graphic language warningIt was entirely in character for Garcia, who never shies away from an opportunity to get attention, whether it’s good or bad, as Yahoo Sports’ Ben Fowlkes explained on Friday:
In recent months, Garcia’s behavior has been erratic, to say the least. He used his social media to complain about the Illuminati and aliens, while also insisting that his phone and social media access had been taken away from him and that he was essentially a prisoner. He joked about being “done off cocaine” and insisted (perhaps sincerely?) that cancer could be beaten with a combination of water, black coffee and fasting.
Garcia has spoken openly about battling depression and mental health challenges in the past, and much of his behavior lately has led people to wonder if he could be spiraling out of control. On the other hand, he also has a reputation for being a savvy self-promoter in the age of social media, so there has also been a lot of speculation that he is just pretending to be unhinged to drum up interest in the fight.
Real or just a person, this behavior literally cost Garcia on Friday. And he still has to fight Haney.
