Ryan Garcia has claimed that his bizarre antics in the build-up to his fight with Devin Haney were planned for ‘weeks and weeks’.
On Saturday night, Garcia stunned the world when he triumphed over his long-term rival – via majority decision – after weeks of strange tirades and rants.
In the weeks prior, Garcia had continuously made worrying posts online, including one which claimed he was dead after having his ‘throat slit’.
His antics continued all the way up to fight night, as the 25-year-old went through his warm-up routine with a classical musical group playing in his changing room.
Now that the dust has settled from his impressive performance, Garcia has since come forward to claim that his antics were in-fact just an act.
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Ryan Garcia claims his bizarre antics in the build-up to his fight with Devin Haney were planned
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Garcia scored three knockdowns on the world champion to claim a majority decision victory
During an appearance on the PBD podcast, Garcia said: ‘We had it pre-recorded months ago.
‘I said, ‘I’m about to make sure everybody thinks I’m going crazy. I’m going to do this, I’m going to do that.’
‘I have it all documented. I was already planning weeks and weeks and weeks behind. I don’t know what made me come up with the idea.
‘One day, I just decided to go all in and just commit to a plan that I had, and I was not going to budge for nobody.
‘It don’t matter if I went on his podcast or anybody’s podcast; I was acting sporadic, just like crazy.’
On the night, Garcia put the bizarre antics behind him as he dominated the fight with Haney – after dropping his opponent three times in the bout.
Two judges scored the fight 114-110, 115-109 in his favour while a third had it down as a draw at 112-112.
Speaking after his victory, Garcia had said: ‘Come on, guys, you really thought I was crazy?’
‘I walked through the fire and still held it down and still beat f***ing Devin Haney. And [I] still drank every day and I beat him. And I smoked. What the f***?’
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Garcia had posted a disturbing video to his social-media accounts claiming he was dead
The 25-year-old then alleged that he was raped in a disturbing rant 48 hours later
For weeks, fans had been left wondering whether the fight would actually go ahead. Just days after his bout with Haney was announced, Garcia began to post a number of bizarre rants on social media that left everyone worried about his welfare.
A disturbing video appeared on Garcia’s social media claiming he was dead after having his ‘throat slit’ in early March, before the 25-year-old responded to let the public know that he was still very much alive.
But he did little to allay fears when he later claimed that he was raped by a family member as a child and said he had witnessed ‘human trafficking’.
He went on to share posts on his account about ‘demons’ and ‘UFOs’ before labelling X owner Elon Musk ‘the Antichrist’ and predicting earthquakes that would ‘destroy Hollywood and Las Vegas’.
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Garca thanked the Lord and then acted as though his behavior was part of an elaborate act
He followed that by turning up to the pre-fight press conference and agreeing to pay Haney $500,000 for every pound he was over the weight limit.
He must have known that he wasn’t going to make 140lbs, and he subsequently missed the weight limit by an astonishing 3.2 pounds, but he simply didn’t care as he appeared to swig a beer on the scales.
Footage also emerged of Garcia appearing to smoke cannabis shortly after his victory as he revelled in upsetting the odds.
It is not hard to see where Garcia gets his outlandish antics from either, as his dad was seen getting into a heated exchange with promoter Eddie Hearn after Saturday’s fight, only for the pair to quickly make up just moments later.
