WBC light welterweight champions Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia weighed in on Friday for their bout this Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
weight:
– Ryan Garcia: 143.2
– Devin Haney: 140
As previously reported, Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) will not be able to capture Haney's WBC light welterweight title because he has dropped 3.2 pounds. Ryan ends up paying Haney a whopping $1.5 million due to his bet with Haney.
During the confrontation, Haney and Garcia, who both had dark circles under their eyes, moved their jaws back and forth, but they kept their distance to prevent any jostling.
Haney pushed Garcia down at a media event on the roof of the Empire State Building in New York this week, forcing both fighters to pay hefty fees.
In response to the violence, the New York Mets canceled Haney and Garcia's participation in the first pitch of their game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Had Ryan and Devin been able to appear, it would have brought in even more PPV buys. Promoters for Saturday's event were not willing to risk a repeat of the jostling by ensuring Hannehy and Garcia were separated during their showdown at today's weigh-in.
“Hopefully he'll be ready by tomorrow night, but it's going to be a rough ride either way,” promoter Eddie Hearn told DAZN Boxing of Ryan Garcia. “I always felt this was the perfect fight to take his profile to the next level.
“We had a nice gate in San Francisco and put up some good numbers.” [50K PPV buys], there is good interest in Prograis, but we need to take him to the next level. For that, you always need a good dance partner.
“Ryan Garcia is the perfect dance partner, especially when you know you can win fights too,” Hearn continued. “I just hope that when Devin wins this fight, people don't say, 'Yeah, but Ryan wasn't himself.' Ryan wasn't ready.' Because you have to take credit for it.
“He's been to Australia twice to fight Kambosos. He came back and fought Lomachenko. He stepped up and fought Regis Prograis. Now he's fighting Ryan Garcia. . The child is running furiously.
“Devin is chasing greatness. He needs fights that will raise his profile,” Hearn said in response to a question about how close Haney was to becoming the “face of boxing.” This is how it started, Ryan Garcia. Other players he will have to beat are players like Teofimo Lopez, Gervonta Davis, and even Shakur Stevenson.
“There's a great mix around these names at the moment, and we also have Sabriel Mathias, another world champion at 140,” Hearn said.
