Ryan Garcia’s win over Devin Haney has thrown some chaos into the boxing world, which isn’t the most unwelcome thing.
Chaos has seemed to follow Garcia around of late, and he sent some mixed messages about recent behavior, still insisting that he drank heavily through his training camp and managed to win anyway.
“I don’t give a fuck what people say about me. I walked through the fire and still held it down and still beat fuckin’ Devin Haney, and still drank every day and still beat him,” Garcia said.
“I did everything. What the fuck? What happened? False reality, right? Drank every single night! Went out on the first Monday, and Tuesday, and what happened? I won. Not necessarily am I proud of that, but I’m just saying, it was a statement to show you, you guys can’t really fuck with me. I do whatever I want, I still won.”
“Look, I’m going through a lot,” he added. “I went through a divorce. A lot of shit has been happening to me in my life that low-key kinda broke me. I did what I felt I needed to do to feel OK. So I drank every day and did whatever I wanted. I’m not proud of it, at all. I just pray for my kids and hopefully they’re OK. I hope I made them proud. Don’t look at me like an example.”
On his pre-fight behavior
“This is why a lot of people need to stop believing everything on the internet and stop living in a false reality. There’s a lot of real shit going on, and the last thing you should worry about is a kid acting crazy on the internet.”
On the first knockdown
“Is this gonna be the moment I stop him? That’s all I was thinking, but I shouldn’t have put so much pressure on myself to stop him, because every time I hurt him I just went crazy and couldn’t finish him. I think (the referee) was trippin’, he should have stopped that fight. It was bad, he was really hurt. I felt bad. I even looked at Bill (Haney) and said, ‘Hey, you should probably stop this.’ But he didn’t.”
On referee Harvey Dock
“(Haney) was holding me for dear life, and I felt an opportunity to keep swinging while my hands were free, and I cracked him, then (Dock) took a point away. I should have knocked him out in that seventh round, they stole that from me.”
On Haney feeling his power early
“He got wobbled bad. I’m surprised he had such good heart and recovery. Bro, I cracked him in that first round. I was, like, ‘I won, easy work,’ and then he came out firing and even hurt me with a hook. I was, like, ‘Damn, maybe he do got a little power.’”
On “thriving in the chaos” of the build-up
“You don’t know half of the shit I been through in my life. Like, that shit was nothing. I’ve been through some crazy-ass moments. This whole fight week was crazy. Y’all have no clue. Fuckin’ no clue. Shit is hilarious. It’ll come out one day.”
On how it feels to be counted out and win
“What’s next? I don’t care. I already knew I could beat him. I was supremely confident. Am I happy? Of course. What’s next? Who’s next? Let’s go.”
On a possible Gervonta Davis rematch
“I don’t think Tank’s gonna beat Frank Martin, but if he did, he wouldn’t fight me because I’m moving up. I’m not doing 140, I’m going 147. I’ve never even technically fought at 140. My body can’t go below 143, it’s literally impossible.”
On what he learned from the Tank fight last year
“I pretty much did that for the boxing community and the boxing fans, despite all the clauses. (Oscar) told me not to, everybody and their mama told me not to, but I was, like, ‘Fuck that, you guys are boring, everybody’s boring, I’m gonna fight him, win or lose.’ And I almost had his ass in the second, but I was too weak. I knew I was going to lose in the back room. I had no power, I had no mind, I was dehydrated. It was really bad. I should have actually died cutting that weight. I was blistering out of my mouth, I had no spit, I was hurting every day. Shit was crazy.”
On who he wants to fight next
“I had a vision to fight Fundora at 154. I don’t know why, I just feel like I could knock him out. I know that’s really, really random, I just feel like I could get a title at 154 real quick. I’ve fought guys that big before and I’ve knocked them out in sparring, cold. Slept ‘em. I wanna do it. Shout out to Fundora, though, no disrespect.”
On Derrick James’ job
“That’s a major key. We just have a great chemistry. Derrick is like a father figure, he always pulls me aside and he’s seen me cry before.”