Throughout the promotion for his fight against WBC 140-pound champion Devin Handey, Ryan Garcia has been a whirlwind of unpredictability. His erratic behavior has left some doubting whether this fight would ever come to fruition. Yet, despite the turbulence, the fight will still happen.
Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs), who drank what he said was beer at the ceremonial weigh-in on Friday, weighed in at 143.2 pounds, which is 3.2 pounds over the junior welterweight division, but both sides were able to negotiate new terms, and the fight was saved, and the two will face off on Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn(DAZN PPV).
According to Dan Rafael, Bill Haney(Haney’s father/manager) made a deal with Team Garcia, which will earn Devin Haney $600k and 2% of Garcia’s PPV upside (if it reaches the upside threshold)
However, it’s important to note that Garcia won’t be in line to capture Haney’s belt.
“Ryan has weighed in over his contractual weight,” Golden Boy Promotion said in a statement. “He will honor the handshake made at the final press conference yesterday.”
Haney (31-0, 15 KOs), who weighed in at 140 pounds even, made a bet with Garcia at Thursday’s press conference that Garcia would not make weight, and he was right.
“He’s Ryan: he’s unique,” Garcia’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya told DAZN. “He’s his own person; he does what he does. Everybody tells me, ‘Can’t you control him?’ I’m not his babysitter, I’m not his manager, I’m his promoter – we put the events together. When Ryan tells me, ‘I’m trolling,’ I don’t know if I should believe him or not.”
Throughout the promotion, Haney has made it clear that he believes Garcia’s actions will come back to haunt him.
“The time is very close,” Haney said on Thursday. “It’s been a long time coming. The talking is almost done. This not an easy fight but it’s a fight that ill make look easy. I have tunnel vision and all his antics will betray him com Saturday night.”
It should be very interesting to see what happens on Saturday night. Garcia appears to be slightly off right now, or maybe he’s trolling all of us. Who knows? If you had to pick a winner, you would go with Haney. He just seems more focused and locked in. However, don’t dismiss Garcia. He has the ability, but none of that matters if he’s not right mentally.
Prediction: Haney by wide unanimous decision.
Photo/Courtesy: Golden Boy Promotions / Cris Esqueda
Leave a Reply