Ryan Garcia LOSES shot at world title after missing weight for Devin Haney fight and has to pay champ huge compensation
RYAN GARCIA has lost his shot at Devin Haney’s world title – without a punch even being thrown.
Garcia was due to challenge for the 140lb WBC belt on Saturday night in New York.
But at the behind-closed-doors weigh in a day beforehand, the controversial American MISSED the championship weight.
He hit the scales at 143.2lb and was denied the chance to cut the extra 3.2lb meaning he could no longer contest for the strap.
Haney, the undefeated two-division champ, successfully made the weight but the bout remained in doubt.
Only 24 hours earlier at the press conference, the two shook on a $500,000 wager that Garcia would not hit the 140lb limit.
He even agreed to $500,000 per lb – meaning he would have owed Haney a whopping $1.5MILLION for his weigh-in disaster.
But according to Dan Rafael, the two camps reached a financial compensation to allow the fight to go ahead.
Garcia will pay a penalty – much lower than the deal they brazenly agreed on stage which was not contractually binding.
But it will allow the grudge fight to remain on but Garcia has lost his chance to win the title.
Garcia marred the build up to the bout in controversy with erratic behaviour online and in the public.
He launched a foul-mouthed rant at the press conference to a member of the crowd causing only further concern for his wellbeing.
But in a social media post on the week of the fight, Garcia claimed he was cleared by the commission to fight after being mentally evaluated and tested for drugs.
Both Garcia and Haney will come face-to-face for the final time at the ceremonial weigh in before finally sharing the ring on Saturday.