Not even Eddie Hearn can quite believe what he’s saying as the countdown to Haney vs Garcia goes officially crazy in New York.
If Ryan Garcia’s pre-fight antics had not been erratic enough, the 24-1 underdog took it to a new level on Friday by missing weight by more than 3lbs. Astonishing.
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Matchroom supremo Hearn spoke about all the wildness to DAZN during their stream of that weigh-in – and it’s fair to see he has watched from the sidelines, open-mouthed.
Hearn on Haney vs Garcia
“I’ve never seen anything like it – the most bizarre 7 or 8 weeks. And I cannot believe we’re standing here now 24 hours away from the fight. Because at the first press conference I was thinking ‘there’s absolutely no way this fight is happening’. You could see the signs, the behaviour was changing.
“It has just snowballed into the most bizarre run of episodes, I’ve watched it like the Truman Show, like from afar, thinking is this actually real? I’ve never seen it from a fighter before.”
Despite all the madness around the build-up, and the concerns for Garcia’s mental health, Hearn believes Ryan can still be a big danger come fight night.
“I think by the way it might be irrelevant in terms of performance, because I think him being a little bit out there in terms of this fight is not the end of the world for him. If he goes out there aggressive, and lets his hands go, he’s gonna be dangerous in this fight. But if he tries to box with Devin Haney, he’s gonna get absolutely schooled.”
Haney also had a very different viewpoint on what has been going down – namely that it also presents a problem for hot favourite Haney.
“I think it’s also been difficult for Devin, people haven’t really talked about that. You’ve got to be watching this guy on social media, thinking ‘there’s no way he’s fighting’. You’re putting the hours in in the gym, the road work, the hard spars, and you’re seeing this guy like turning up and Derrick James trying to walk him round the gym going ‘what’s going on?’.
“I think it’s been hard for Devin to stay motivated like he would do if he saw Ryan Garcia looking like a machine coming into this fight.
“It’s a dangerous fight either way. I do expect Devin Haney to do the business, but I do think Ryan Garcia’s gonna be dangerous in there.”
Big-fight prediction
Hearn fully expects Haney to be a dominant victor on Saturday night, but he says the outrageous behaviour from Garcia just provides a factor that nobody can truly work out.
“It’s not traditional, so sometimes when a guy’s trying to get under your skin and you’re in a head-to-head with him and he’s saying this and he’s saying that, and he gives you a shove, it’s just another day at school. This is like well out there. The things he’s saying, the way he’s looking, the way that he appears to be training.
“So I think mentally it is a tough spot for Devin – you don’t know what this guy’s gonna do next. It’s the unpredictability of what he’s been doing, and what he might do tomorrow night.
“Don’t be surprised to see this man quit on his stool tomorrow night – one of those ‘no mas’ moments.”
