Ryan Garcia knows his limits.
On Friday, Garcia made headlines when he missed weight for his fight with 140-pound champion Devin Haney, coming in 3.2 pounds over the limit. Due to the miss, Garcia is ineligible to win Haney’s WBC super lightweight title, though the bout is currently set to proceed as scheduled.
Thanks to a wager the two made at a press conference this past Thursday, Garcia also owes Haney $1.5 million after they agreed that should one of them miss weight, the offending fighter would pay the other $500,000 per pound over the limit.
Despite these embarrassing circumstances and a public shellacking on social media, Garcia remains unapologetic for his error, and he insists that there was no way he could cut any more weight.
“At the end of the day, my last fight was at 143,” Garcia said on Twitter Spaces. “That’s all my body could completely get down to. My body absolutely cannot get lower than 143. There is nothing I could have done unless I killed myself. My team can speak for me. Did we or did we not try our hardest? All night working, trying to make the weight.
“But again, I’m not going to kill myself over the scale. The only thing I’ll sacrifice my life for is for Jesus Christ, not the scale.”
Garcia’s weigh-in gaffe is the latest incident in a bizarre pre-fight build between Garcia and Haney, which was initially sold as two of boxing’s brightest young stars facing off. “King Ryan” has come under increased scrutiny for going on multiple, confusing tirades on social media and in interviews, including spreading a variety of popular conspiracy theories.
He commented Friday on his public behavior, apparently claiming that everything he’s done in the lead-up to the Haney fight has been part of a plan.
“There’s always a different story to be told,” Garcia said. “Every fight you’re going to get something new. Today, this time around, it’s what it was. I’m most likely not going to carry like this ever again, but I did what I had to do. … Once you commit to a plan, if you back out, you’re a b****. I did not back out.
“I said what I was going to do, I have it all recorded. I recorded this months ago. What did I say? Step by step what was going to happen. Everybody was going to be covering this, it’s going to go insane. Everybody’s going to think I’m crazy. We have it all recorded.”
Garcia did not explain exactly what parts of his behavior were part of his plan, why he was motivated to act this way, nor the purpose of his actions, though he agreed with Twitter Space commentators who praised him for selling the fight.
Currently, Garcia is around a +600 underdog on DraftKings. Garcia defeated Oscar Duarte via eighth-round knockout to rebound from his first pro loss, a knockout at the hands of Gervonta Davis.
The long odds heading into Saturday have done nothing to shake the confidence of Garcia, who invites Haney to trade hands with him in the center of the ring.
“I’d risk everything in that ring,” Garcia said. “At the end of the day, I’m fighting for the children. I’m not about to go down and p**** out in any situation, I guarantee you that. Ain’t nothing going to stop me from just being in that b***** ready for the fire.
“If he’s dead-ass to meet in the center of the ring, I’ll stand right there in the center of the ring the whole time. We can fight inside, outside, whatever he wants, but there’s no way he’s fighting me in the center of the ring. There’s no way.”
