Devin Haney is the favorite at -750, while Ryan Garcia is at +500 and is considered to have little chance of winning on Saturday in their main event bout at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. York. Those odds don't bode well for the main event fight on DAZN PPV.
Did Garcia shoot himself in the foot?
Event organizers have lowered ticket prices to Barclays Center due to poor sales at the nearly empty venue. What we don't know is whether Ryan's strange social media posts and strange interviews contributed to sales.
Ryan's online antics, sometimes acting like he's not there, and WBC lightweight champion Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) telling everyone Kingry has no chance, no push push fans to buy courtside seats, especially with high ticket prices.
Ryan did not act the way fighters usually do when participating in a highly publicized PPV match with a world champion. It seems like the fight is secondary to Ryan, who prefers to play around, bask in the spotlight and talk about things unrelated to boxing.
Ryan didn't seem excited about the fight, which made fans feel uncomfortable. Ryan seemed focused on who knows. Ryan did not show the professionalism that fans expect at a PPV event and they are being asked to shell out $69.99.
Haney's insecurity and cherry-picking
Haney appeared to be in, but he mixed things up by telling fans how uncompetitive this match was going to be, which is the wrong thing to say the contest was supposed to be not suitable.
In this case, Haney needs to build up Ryan, making him seem more of a credible threat than one of his other calculated cherry picks. Haney is incapable of praising a fighter without accompanying criticism.
Even if Haney was asked to do it, it's hard to imagine him being in that state for more than a minute without irritating Ryan and praising himself.
There's an insecurity there with Haney, and he has a big burden on his shoulders, perhaps from the weak champions he fought for the belt and his only notable win over Vasily Lomachenko is considered controversial.
PPV failure: Who is at fault?
The Haney vs. Garcia The PPV fight could have been much bigger if the two fighters approached the promotion better. Both made serious mistakes that took away much of the interest that would have been there.
Instead of being massive, the event is now the equivalent of a tin can strapped to a bumper. The promoters also deserve to be blamed. The undercard was terrible, one of the worst I've seen in years for a major PPV event.
Is Haney more interested in money than legacy?
Can Ryan pull off a win by pulling off a big upset against heavy favorite Haney or will we see Devin get an easy win and a big payday? The whole reason Haney chose Ryan was because of the payday.
This isn't about Haney fighting at his best. He wants Ryan for money because he is famous on social media with 11 million followers on Instagram. Haney's choice says a lot about him and his career goals.
Devin said he wanted to fight at his best but he couldn't. Haney cares about making money, not competing to be the best. His focus is on profitability through difficult challenges. Haney is not the type of fighter who will help boxing due to his careful selection of opponents.
