Ryan Garcia is no longer fighting for the world title on April 20 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The LA-based contender missed weight by 2.3 lbs for his bout against Bay Area reigning WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney, who made it official at 140 lbs.
At the final pre-fight press conference, Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) and Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) made a bet and shook hands for the $500K per each missed pound to go in favor of the opponent. After the news were reported by Dan Rafael via post on X that the challenger didn’t make the required limit, the champion posted on X that he had “honored the 500k per pound”.
According to the Golden Boy statement the fight goes on: “Ryan has weighed-in over his contractual weight. He will honor the handshake made at the final press conference yesterday. We have a fight.”
After an intense faceoff at the ceremonial weigh-ins, Ryan Garcia said he couldn’t make weight, but was still confident in his victory.
“I did my best to make this weight, “Garcia said. “I put myself through hell.” The response to crowd boos was: “Suck my d*ck. At the end of the day, I am the best fighter here.” The native of Victorville, California promised to knock the champion out.
San Francisco’s former undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney said he was going to prove that he was way better than his opponent.
“He is very unprofessional,” Haney said. “I’m a true professional. I told him yesterday ‘his antics will betray him’. This is just a start. Tomorrow, the world will see that I’m levels above this average fighter.”
As for Garcia missing weight, Haney said: “It doesn’t matter what weight he came in. I’m a true champion and I will show it.”
All other fighters featured on Haney vs Garcia PPV undercard successfully made the required weight limit for their respective bouts.