Ryan Garcia pre-warned Devin Haney and his team about his intent to try out a new way of building up a fight on social media, says father Bill.
Following weeks of manic activity on his accounts and erratic public behavior, Bill Haney admitted Garcia disclosed his intentions before they agreed on the deal for April 20.
From the get-go, Garcia was in full-on alternate ego mode in the flesh during press conferences in New York and Los Angeles and online. His demeanor was far from his usual self and immediately caused concern. The biggest red flag was outside influences and Garcia being holed up in a hotel room. This was later addressed by Golden Boy, who continued to state Garcia was trolling.
Nobody from Golden Boy or his team ever looked seriously troubled by Garcia’s actions, with Haney’s admission shedding some light on why that might be the case.
“Ryan Garcia raised his hand [and accepted the fight], but he also came with some stipulations,” Haney said in a conversation with The Sharp Tank. “One of those stipulations being that he now wanted to embrace different movements [on social media].”
“I don’t want to judge none of them. That’s, to me, not boxing business. He says that now he’s feeling while he has this platform between this big opportunity where people are looking, to start now talking about these other things [conspiracies].”
“I said, ‘Listen, if we would have known that that’s what you were gonna do, then maybe we as a team would have looked at it differently.’ But being that we’re already in the process of this fight, we know now that that’s just a distraction.”
Asked whether some of the incidents and social media topics caught them by surprise, Haney added: “The thing that we’re blindsided by is that no one traditionally doesn’t do what this guy is doing.”
Despite the furor of drug-taking claims and drinking excessively, Garcia passed every drug test and mental evaluation thrown at him. This confirmation – provided it remains that way until after the fight, is the biggest indication that Garcia is taking the fight seriously.
Even missing the weight by three pounds can be explained. Ryan Garcia weighed the same weight in his last fight against Oscar Duarte. The gloating afterward would then come under the ‘movement’ Haney stated during his interview.
If it is a performance, Garcia’s performance is an Oscar-worthy one. Even former world champions have been taken in by the build-up.
Ishe Smith said: “This whole promotion has been one of the weirdest fight weeks and camps. I mean, everything about it is so f***ing bizarre. Strangest s*** I’ve ever witnessed.”
If Garcia loses, he’s expected to lose. If he somehow wins and the plan comes together, Garcia can take credit for the most astounding series of mind games ever staged during a Pay Per View event. For the sake of all involved, though, all better hope nothing serious happens if Haney takes him out, as many expect.
Read all articles and learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor Phil Jay. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
