Ryan Garcia remains a wild card as Devin Haney focuses on retaining title

NEW YORK — One of the most unique fight buildups in recent memory finally arrived in Brooklyn on Wednesday for a media workout that showed off a contrast of personalities as disparate as the fighters’ boxing styles.

Devin Haney, the understated WBC junior welterweight titleholder, and Ryan Garcia, the mercurial but talented contender, arrived separately at Gleason’s Gym in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn on Wednesday, their distance ensuring that the famed boxing club didn’t become scene to another physical altercation, like the one that took place the morning before on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building.

Their fight, which will headline a DAZN pay-per-view live from Barclays Center, has been overshadowed by discussions of mental readiness and stability, with the usual particulars of boxing skillsets and resume’s taking a backseat.

The 25-year-old Garcia (24-1, 20 knockouts) has shown a worrying pattern of behavior which has included him releasing what looked like a hostage video in which he claimed to have had his bank cards frozen and phone taken away from him to prevent him from posting on social media. The promotion kicked off with Garcia almost immediately pushing to have the fight moved from New York to Las Vegas. He has also posted a video of himself crying while claiming that unknown others were trying to have the fight canceled and revealed he was ordered to undergo a pre-fight mental health evaluation by the New York State Athletic Commission, plus much more in a consistent stream of social media missives that have pushed the boundaries of taste and public interest.

Hall of Fame commentator Jim Lampley, who will be co-hosting a live viewer chat during the PPV.com broadcast, finds it hard to relate to the sort of publicity tactics Garcia has employed in the lead up to this fight, as his run as a regular commentator ended when the HBO network ceased boxing programming in 2018, before social media became the primary forum for discourse leading up to a major event.

“Some of what goes on now is craziness. How does Ryan Garcia think it helps him to create the questions he creates about his state of mind in a public setting? I don’t know. Maybe that sells tickets. Maybe that generates some buys or creates clicks. I can’t comment in an expert fashion on any of that because I never did it and I was never a part of it but I do understand why it’s taking place,” said Lampley.

Garcia, who entered the gym bare-chested due to his ongoing feud with shirts, insists he’s doing a performance art exhibition that could put Andy Kaufman to shame.

“I’m trolling everybody, this is a joke to me. This is entertainment, I do stupid shit, ‘Oh my God he’s acting crazy!’ Jim Carrey does this shit all the time, you guys don’t say shit. You guys don’t know acting,” said Garcia, before performing his own take on a scene from Scarface.

“End scene, perfectly fine, normal.”

Garcia, who took a 15-month break from fighting due to mental health issues in 2021 until early 2022, allows that he’s “a little mental” before adding “but I’m ready to destroy motherf–kers.”

Afterwards, Garcia worked up a sweat in the ring, shadowboxing for the assembled media and fans before hitting pads with trainer Derrick James, who declined to make a comment at the event.

Oscar de la Hoya, who promotes Garcia and whose company Golden Boy Promotions is the lead promoter for the event, expressed full confidence in the fighter he has guided since he turned 18.

“He’s been 1000 percent focused and serious. What he does on social media takes ten seconds to pull up. He’s been working hard for the past two months,” said De La Hoya.

De La Hoya hinted that the reasoning behind Garcia’s erratic behavior is to rattle his opponent, suggesting that Garcia’s tactics may be starting to work after Haney pushed Garcia the day before in a similar fashion to how he pushed Vasiliy Lomachenko at the weigh-in for their fight last May.

“It gives me confidence that he got under Haney’s skin. I’ve never seen Devin like that, he pushed him and he was rattled. Ryan actually reminds me of the way that Floyd [Mayweather Jr.] used to get into your head and take you out of your game plan,” said De La Hoya.

Any mental edge could help Garcia narrow the odds once the bell rings. Currently, Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) remains a solid -800 favorite while Garcia is a +550 underdog, according to the online sportsbook DraftKings. Garcia, whose lone defeat is a seventh round knockout loss to Gervonta Davis a year ago when he gambled and was counterpunched out of the fight, would need Haney to make a mistake in order to have a chance at the upset win.

Haney, who arrived to the public workout in a puffy jacket and beanie as is appropriate for the mid-50s temperatures of early spring in New York, is getting what any rising star needs in Garcia, who is an entertaining counterpart who can carry his end of a promotion. The two were a perfect match for one another in the amateurs, splitting six fights amongst each other as teenagers, and they may be a perfect match in the promotion of a major event as well.

With Haney, the public knows what they’re getting. He’s been a consistent performer since turning pro as a 17-year-old nearly a decade ago. He may not have scored a knockout in five years, since the last time he fought in New York against Zaur Abdullaev in 2019, but there are few fighters who have faced the consistent stream of tough opponents that the 25-year-old from San Francisco has faced in the last two years.

Haney won the undisputed lightweight championship with a unanimous decision over George Kambosos Jr. in June of 2022 and retained with an easier decision in the rematch before gutting out a tough win over Lomachenko and then stepping up in weight to shut out Regis Prograis last December to earn the belt he currently holds.

He says that skills, not social media buzz, is what matters once the bell rings.

“None of Ryan’s antics has really gotten under my skin. I’m a true professional. When I get into that ring, I am going to do my job. No matter how I feel, no matter what Ryan shows up, or whatever he says. He can say whatever he wants to say. I am going to let my hands talk in the ring on Saturday night,” said Haney, who worked out last with the biggest assembled crowd to watch.

“Ryan may have the speed, but I have the timing. I just want to show how I am levels above this guy. Ryan is an average fighter with a big name. I am a proven fighter, proven champion, I was tested by some of the best fighters in the world, and I am here for a reason. It’s me vs. Greatness.”

Bill Haney, who trains and promotes his son under Devin Haney Promotions, concurs with De La Hoya’s assessment that Garcia’s behavior has altered their approach to the fight, though he differs somewhat about what the implications of that would mean.

“Of course it changed the game plan. At first I wanted Devin to go beat him. Now I want him to go kill him,” said Bill Haney.

One audience which there’s no doubt that the promotion is connecting with is young people, who are growing up without ever knowing a world before social media, have been drawn to this fight. Sonya Lamonakis, Vice President of USA Boxing Metro, which oversees amateur boxing in New York City, says over 40 amateur boxers from various programs were given free pairs of gloves, water bottles, backpacks and t-shirts, plus a chance to meet Haney and Garcia at the media workout. She says the two boxers have connected with younger audiences because they speak their language through social media.

“I think that a lot of the kids love Devin Haney. Ryan Garcia’s appeal is Twitter and social media. He’s popular, he’s been running his mouth about this fight so I think a lot of the kids were excited to have this fight come to Brooklyn,” said Lamonakis, who herself was a former IBO heavyweight champion.

The wild card in all of this promotion remains Garcia. Is he crazy, or crazy like a fox, or mixture of those two? Lost in all of the chaos of the past two months is that Garcia is a very good, if flawed fighter who has been conditioning himself for moments like these since he was a grade school child growing up in the southern California city of Victorville.

If he’s still half as good a fighter as he is an actor, Saturday night could be even more interesting than the build-up.

“You can’t deny all the work that Derrick and I have put in either. My technique is better, my hands are up, the chin is down – what do you all have to say?,” said Garcia.

“This is the most important fight of my career, and I will not leave without the victory.”

Ryan Songalia has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler and The Guardian, and is part of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism Class of 2020. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com.

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