Human beings can be inaccurate, but the scales do not lie.
Despite Ryan Garcia’s public reassurances that he would make weight for his fight with WBC 140-pound champion Devin Haney, the 25-year-old missed weight on Friday morning.
Garcia didn’t just miss weight; he missed it by a whopping 3 pounds.
Garcia officially weighed 143.2 pounds for the Super Lightweight title fight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Unsurprisingly, Haney was on weight at 140 pounds.
The fight will move forward, but Garcia cannot win the title–even if he defeats Haney–and he will have to pay fines to the New York State Athletic Commission and the champion for exceeding the contracted weight.
The details of the fines are reportedly still being determined, per MMA Show’s Ariel Helwani.
In addition to the official fines, Haney bet Garcia wouldn’t make weight during Thursday’s press event. Garcia agreed to pay Haney $500,000 for every pound over the 140-pound limit he weighed.
Shortly after the weigh-in, Haney confirmed Garcia made good on losing the bet and agreed to pay him the $1.5 million attached to the three-pound miss.
Golden Boy officially confirmed the weight miss, and Garcia honored the agreement. The statement reads:
“Ryan has weighed-in over his contractual weight. He will honor the handshake made at the final press conference yesterday. We have a fight.”
Immediately after news spread that Garcia missed weight, reactions flooded social media. Helwani pointed to the concern Garcia’s father showed at the presser when his son agreed to the bet with Haney.
Here is a look at the clip:
MMA writer Ben Fowlkes had a jab pointing to the money Garcia lost in the weight bet.
Social media influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul offered this cryptic but easy-to-decipher post.
Rafael pointed to Garcia’s rumored struggles with mental health and implied Friday’s miss is another symptom there is a real problem. Rafael also offered an ominous prediction for Saturday’s fight.
Many will watch the fight on Saturday, and it stands to reason the intrigue will not be rooted exclusively in a sincere desire to see which man comes out on top.
Throughout the build for Saturday’s fight, Garcia has posted erratic messages on social media. The subject matter has ranged from issues in other countries to advocacy for abuse victims to conspiracy theories and profane attacks on celebrities like Logan Paul and Kanye West.
Fight week has been eventful before the weigh-in fiasco. Haney shoved Garcia in the face, and the former’s father said his son would kill the latter in the ring.
There will understandably be a large contingent of viewers watching to see what’s next in what has become one of the most bizarre builds for a major fight in the sport’s history.
As Rafael mentioned, some have speculated Garcia’s antics were ploys to sell the fight and to bring attention to himself. While that may be one result, there is legitimate concern a more profound issue is present.
In case you’re wondering, the fight will air Saturday night on DAZN. The show begins at 7pm, but Haney and Garcia will not climb into the ring until much later in the evening.
The estimated walk time is 11pm ET. The way things are going, fans wouldn’t be crazy to wonder if we’ve seen the last curveball leading up to the fight.
Stay tuned. Saturday night figures to be wild.
