The WBC super-lightweight champion Devin Haney accused Ryan Garcia of being drunk, which rendered their first encounter unpleasant.
The two met for their debut press conference at Palladium Times Square in New York City before their highly anticipated match on April 20.
As the two guys exchanged verbal barbs, sparks erupted. Regarding Garcia’s stoppage defeat to Gervonta Davis in April of last year, Haney remarked, “Listen, we’ve seen Ryan quit before, we’ve seen him take a knee before and quit.”
“With April 20th, nothing will change.” Before the abrupt failure of negotiations with Haney earlier this year, there was a great deal of discussion surrounding Garcia’s notorious jog with Floyd Mayweather.
Bill Haney, the champion’s father, was performing at his best as usual in the interim.
But when they faced the cameras directly, that became the main talking topic of the news conference.
“You’ve had some alcohol. Haney remarked, “I smell it on your breath.”
Garcia went on the attack after first denying that he had alcohol on his breath.
“I’ll have a beer and beat the shit out of you, I promise.” Sure, I think I would. Even if I did, I would beat the f**k out of you because I know you want me to.
After that, Garcia said, “Cry me a f***ing river,” several times, while Haney called his opponent “an alcoholic.”
After the news conference, Haney spoke with FightHub TV and stated, “Ryan was at the mother f***ing press conference drunk as a skunk.”
“However, I’m going to have him punch drunk on April 20 if he can’t get it together before then.”
Subsequently, he reiterated the unsupported assertion, “Ryan is an alcoholic.” We never know which Ryan we’re going to get because he drinks so much.
The rivalry between Haney and Garcia dates back to their amateur days when they squared off six times to split the series three points apiece.
When both fighters were sixteen years old, their most recent matchup occurred in the quarterfinals of the USA Youth National Championships in January 2015.
Haney won the tournament that year after being proclaimed the winner by a unanimous vote.
They will settle their score at Brooklyn, New York’s Barclays Centre, almost ten years to the day.
