Prior to his battle with Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia startled a lot of people with his actions, but he now says it was all a publicity stunt.
Prior to the battle, Garcia was exhibiting highly strange behavior, leading many to believe that he had lost his mind. However, it was later discovered that this had all been a stage act.
Most significantly, he managed to con both WBC light welterweight champion Haney and his father while deceiving the press and the public. Haney claimed that there was “something wrong with Ryan” the week of the bout as a result of Ryan’s actions.
It’s impossible to say for sure whether Haney let up on the gas in the lead-up to the bout because of Garcia’s theatrics.
Garcia prevailed in the bout, which took place at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, via majority decision after twelve rounds. Haney struggled the entire time, but it seemed that he was too strong and swift.
Ryan Garcia provides an explanation for his peculiar actions
After the fight, Garcia talked with Patrick Bet David and said that, in the months leading up to the fight, he had been organizing this stunt. Ryan said,
“We had it pre-recorded with my cameraman months ago, I said, ‘I’m about to make sure everybody thinks I’m going to go crazy.’ I have it all documented. I was planning it months ago. I don’t know what made me come up with the idea, I just decided to go all in and commit to the plan that I had… People, that’s on them, they underestimated me because of social media. You can make anything look a certain way on social media. They fooled themselves,”
