Haney and Garcia to Invade Brooklyn in April
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
By Joshua Garcia
A dimly lit ballroom in the heart of old Hollywood held a press conference for the ages last Thursday afternoon, hosting the anticipated bout between Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney. A bitter social media battle between the two young fighters took center stage, as the second and final leg of the two city promotional tour for the April 20th meeting at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn hit Los Angeles.
The great Allen Iverson once blessed the world with a famous rant on why practice doesn’t matter, but don’t tell that to Professional Boxers of the modern era, because it’s been all the buzz the last few weeks. Let’s put the war of Twitter fingers aside for a moment and talk about the history between Garcia and Haney.
Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia have stood across from each other in a ring on six different occasions in the amateurs, and basically have grown up battling against each other as two standouts on the California amateur Boxing scene. They have simply not faced one another professionally as of yet, and ended with a 3-3 record in their amateur faceoffs, making April 20th an even more significant affair as the default rubber match.
Now, for the trending social media beef that has the Boxing world gossiping, because it seems that even before Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney inked the deal, they were living in the other’s head rent free. Recently, those flames have been intensified as a tape of a sparring session between Gervonta Tank Davis and a 16-year old Haney at the time, has been leaked to the public.
The tape in debate shows Gervonta Davis handling a teenage Devin Haney in the ring, but admittedly most of the people who were present said Haney won the money that was placed on the sparring session. Haney’s father and trainer, Bill Haney, wasn’t finished and wanted to discuss another sparring session as well, discussing a unique opportunity Devin shared with Hall of Famer Floyd Mayweather.
According to Bill Haney, Devin Haney and Floyd Mayweather went toe-to-toe for six round and his son finished 6-0 against what many call the greatest defensive boxer of all time in Mayweather. Devin’s father and trainer, Bill Haney went on to clarify what a monumental moment in his son’s career it was to beat Floyd in that fashion, saying “something he didn’t do with Gervonta or Adrien Broner, so it gave us a whole lot of respect for him. But at the same time…I didn’t bring it up until they said Ryan started showing sparring footage. So I said show them the one that we are proud of, the one the world would want to see, 6-0 Haney-Mayweather.”
While Devin Haney is surrounded by talk of sparring sessions, Ryan Garcia is walking in the footsteps and shadows of his mentor, Oscar De La Hoya. There may be no better person for Garcia to look to for advice in being a blossoming top draw in the world of Boxing at a young age, than the Golden Boy.
Oscar De La Hoya is as masterful at spinning a press conference and a promotional effort as he once was with his Olympic Gold Medal and World Champion jab, but it seems as if his young fighters focus is off the rails. Devin Haney and his team have chalked Garcia’s recent internet sparking antics up to a smokescreen in an attempt to come off as unserious or unfocused about not only this big fight, but his career.
Recently, Ryan Garcia has taken to social media to post himself allegedly smoking marijuana and falling in love with a model, to which most of his fans are asking, if Boxing is now third most important in his life. Garcia has veered fully into the narrative however, showing up to the Avalon in Hollywood for the press conference on a horse wearing an all-white suit and being escorted by what looked to upwards of 50 beautiful women. If it’s all a set up, it’s working.
Nearly two months out from fight night in Brooklyn, Ryan Garcia’s camp is not worried about the circus currently surrounding their young star. One of Garcia’s mentors and handlers is none other than the Hall of Fame legend in Bernard Hopkins, who has worked with Golden Boy for many years.
Bernard Hopkins took the microphone to downplay the controversy hovering over Ryan Garcia and questions on if he is taking this fight seriously. Hopkins discussed the tactics as mental warfare in the fight game and discussed his contribution to the upcoming Garcia camp he will be attending, saying, “Ryan has multiple weeks to be in camp, multiple weeks to be by himself…and also he has two Hall of Famers, Oscar’s been through it all in and out of the ring…there’s no excuses. We are all in.”
As team Haney exhibited a business like attitude throughout the press conference, team Garcia went on the defensive angle. During the entirety of the event, Ryan Garcia’s mother interrupted from the audience, contesting many of the allegations team Haney brought up, creating a very tense atmosphere at several points. Ryan had to be held back and advised by the Golden Boy team a few times, threatening to run up to the balcony and fight a fan who was heckling him about his alleged drug use.
Ryan Garcia has been visibly shaken by the pressure and responsibility of such a marquee matchup, summoning questions from all directions on if Garcia will even make it to fight night. Team Haney, with as much bad as they’ve had to say about Ryan and his family, admittedly give him respect merely because he is willing to face Devin Haney in the first place, something other opponents in the division have been reluctant to do. The only question remains, will Garcia actually train and show up to the home of the Nets on April 20th?
