NEW YORK – Bill Haney mockingly gave Ryan Garcia a gift on Thursday during the final press conference for Garcia's 140-pound title fight with his son.
Garcia grabbed “Psychology for Dummies” and immediately threw it off the stage at Barclays Center. However, Haney's father and trainer noted that he does not view Garcia's worrying behavior as evidence that he is not fit to fight Saturday night for Devin Haney's WBC super lightweight title .
Bill Haney believes Garcia tried to mislead their team and the public that this was a legitimate crisis from a polarizing opponent who was very open about his mental health struggles. Devin Haney disagrees with his father's views after witnessing many of Garcia's strange antics on Thursday.
“There's something wrong with him,” Devin Haney told a group of reporters after the news conference. “I don't know what's going on but it's not normal at all. We all know that.”
Garcia, 25, wearing a bulletproof vest, demonstratively sang about Jesus when it was his turn to speak at the podium. He then yelled at a member of Haney's group about the villain's mother sliding into Garcia's DMs and threatening to force oral sex on that group member.
Garcia's behavior encapsulated a promotion that was remarkable even by boxing's brash standards.
Promoters Oscar De La Hoya and Eddie Hearn and their PR teams were at least wise enough to keep the fighters apart on Thursday. They didn't pose for photos largely because Haney hit Garcia in the face during a heated exchange while they promoted their DAZN Pay-Per-View main event atop the Empire State Building in Manhattan on Tuesday.
They were branded trash talkers and bet $500,000 per pound on whether Garcia would arrive Friday afternoon overweight at Barclays Center, home of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets.
Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) predicts that Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) will not stand in the middle of the ring and trade with him because the heavily favored fighter will be entirely too wary of his power. he.
“We're going to go in the middle of the ring,” Garcia said. “We'll see what you do. No one worries about that. Run, go straight to the center, whatever you want. I will hunt you down and I will take you down.
Haney, who dominated the southern powerhouse Regis Prograis in his last fight, promised that he would be willing to commit to facing Garcia on the inside.
“The conversation is almost complete,” Devin Haney said. “The farce is almost complete. This is not an easy fight, but it is a fight that I will make look easy. Through all the antics, through everything, I continued to cover my eyes and concentrate. I've got my tunnel vision and on Saturday it will show. All his antics, all the things he is doing will betray him and it will come out.”
Bill Haney promised another dominant performance from his 25-year-old son, who knocked out Prograis (29-2, 24 KOs) in the third round of Haney's 140-pound debut and eliminated him. on all three scorecards on December 9 at Chase Center in San Francisco.
“All [these] the games he thought he was playing with everyone… it didn't work for me and Devin,” Bill Haney said. “We remain focused. There are no excuses. Come on Saturday night, put the kids to bed. It's 18 or older because what I told Devin to do to him shouldn't be on TV.
“They violated everything about boxing, including throwing books, disrespecting the sport, disrespecting the religion. And for that, all the gloves were taken off. If he and his team are who they say they are, get to the center of the ring. Come to the center of the ring. Do not run. Don’t run away, because Devin is going to hurt him.”
