The fight week craziness for that Haney vs Garcia superfight in New York peaked on Friday when ‘King Ryan’ missed the 140lb super-lightweight limit by an astonishing 3lbs.
The 24-1 California-based superstar tipped the scales at 143.2lbs after behaving erratically in the weeks leading up to the bout. Just another chapter in what is developing into a sorry story for boxing.
Garcia appeared to swig from a bottle of beer on the scales as he missed weight, while the reigning WBC super-lightweight king Haney (31-0) was bang on the 140lb limit.
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Haney described Garcia as “very unprofessional”, and that lack of professionalism will cost him too following a bet between the fighters made at the pre-fight press conference on Thursday.
Garcia shook hands and agreed to pay Haney $500k for every pound he was over limit – which could mean he is shelling out a a cool $1.5million before he even steps into the ring on Saturday night.
Per reports from New York, despite the missed weight, the fight will go ahead despite many experts fearing for Garcia due to that erratic behaviour. He will not of course be eligible to claim Haney’s belt even if he does emerge victorious on Saturday night.
Dan Rafael fears for Garcia
Former ESPN expert and highly credible boxing journalist Dan Rafael was one of the many voices talking about Ryan’s mental health. He believes Garcia should not be in the ring on Saturday.
The bout will apparently still go ahead on Saturday night with ring walks for the main event set to get under way at around 11pm Eastern Standard Time. That is 8pm PST on the West Coast or 4am on Sunday in the UK.
DAZN PPV will air the showdown with the pricing set at $69.99 in the US, and £19.99 in the UK.
