Jorge Linares understands the demands of boxing, with a 21-year career that includes 56 fights, 366 rounds, and glory as world lightweight champion from 2014 to 2018.
So Linares was left perplexed as he inspected the carnival ride Ryan Garcia brought to Saturday's WBC 140-pound title fight against undefeated champion Devin Haney.
“I see the past (and the difference between) when Ryan Garcia was not a champion, but in his prime (and) I see the reality of where he is now…” Linares said as a special guest on a professional show. “Deep Waters'' on Box TV.
“Shit. This is bad. It's toxic.”
“There's more bad than good when you're on[social media]. If my daughter tried to be a fan of his, I'd say, 'No way!' What (Garcia) says, “I smoke marijuana,'' and all these things (and more).
“Why? Why? Where is your professionalism? Where is your professional team?”
Southern California's Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) will compete in a seminal event Saturday night. It's been a year since Gervonta “Tank” Davis, a popular fighter like him in his 20s, generated 1.2 million pay-per-view buys in a bout.
The credibility Garcia brought to that fight as a frighteningly quick puncher faded when Davis remained on his knees after landing vicious body shots in a decisive seventh round barrage. .
Now, his bizarre and constant Instagram posts have amassed a following, but sports purists like Linares are in awe of his recklessness.
“You can see it in his eyes. He's very confused,” Linares said.
Deep Waters analyst and former welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi wonders if this is a sign that Garcia's love for boxing is waning.
“We know how important it is to give our all,” Malignaggi told Linares.
“For me personally, once I stopped loving boxing, I stopped getting better at it.
“Does Ryan Garcia just like being famous?”
“That's a very important proposal,” Linares responded.
Former 140-pound champion and “Deep Waters” analyst Chris Algieri said that when Garcia repeatedly asked Haney on the roof of the Empire State Building, “Where's your mom, bitch?” He said he was expecting. before Haney slaps her in the face and sends her flying behind her.
Afterward, Garcia's promoter Oscar De La Hoya congratulated Garcia on making a move on Haney and suggested that Haney would become overly aggressive in the future and would come forward Saturday night. When that happened, De La Hoya advised Garcia to throw a knockout punch.
“If a man says something about my mother, I'll punch him in the face. I don't care how much money I lose,” Algieri said. “There's a line. That's not me as a fighter (talking). That's me as a man. I can't speak for my mom. I think a lot of people would agree with that.”
Malignaggi has had episodes of intense trash talk during his career, including an episode with Adrien Broner in the I don't think so,” he said. As for promotion (in battle).
“There was no line for me and Broner. Sure, you take a chance on saying things like that. There could be consequences for pushing and shoving, but of course I didn't want that fight either. He's one of those guys who is dedicated to (marketing). Nothing was off-limits.”
Algieri said the promotions “didn't sell very well” and “missed the mark” as the fight approached.
Malignaggi said the attention to the fighters' professional grudge match after splitting six amateur bouts, and their respective in-ring and verbal talents, was overshadowed by attention to Garcia's erratic behavior. I agreed that it was.
“You're not bringing in bad blood,” Malignaggi said. “You're just doing all sorts of weird things.”
