RYAN GARCIA has lost his shot at Devin Haney’s world title – without a punch even being thrown.
Garcia was due to challenge for the 140lb WBC belt on Saturday night in New York.
But at the behind-closed-doors weigh in a day beforehand, the controversial American MISSED the championship weight.
He hit the scales at 143.2lb and was denied the chance to cut the extra 3.2lb meaning he could no longer contest for the strap.
Haney, the undefeated two-division champ, successfully made the weight but the bout remained in doubt.
Only 24 hours earlier at the press conference, the two shook on a $500,000 wager that Garcia would not hit the 140lb limit.
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He even agreed to $500,000 per lb – meaning he would have owed Haney a whopping $1.5MILLION for his weigh-in disaster.
But according to Dan Rafael, the two camps reached a financial compensation to allow the fight to go ahead.
Garcia will pay a penalty – believed to be $600,000 – much lower than the deal they brazenly agreed on stage which was not contractually binding.
But it will allow the grudge fight to remain on but Garcia has lost his chance to win the title.
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Garcia spoke out on X to suggest he missed the weight on PURPOSE to give him an edge in the ring.
He posted: “I feel great and I got a 3 pound advantage Let’s gooo hahahahaa. Winners do what they have to do I’m still sharp.”
Garcia added separately: “Why would I force my self to make weight so I can be weak. Nah I’m here to win That’s it.”
The 24-1 boxer marred the build up to the bout in controversy with erratic behaviour online and in the public.
Garcia launched a foul-mouthed rant at the press conference to a member of the crowd causing only further concern for his wellbeing.
But in a social media post on the week of the fight, Garcia claimed he was cleared by the commission to fight after being mentally evaluated and tested for drugs.
Both Garcia and Haney came face-to-face for the final time at the ceremonial weigh in before finally sharing the ring on Saturday.
And tensions were high on stage as the bitter enemies traded verbal blows before being separated by security.
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It was described as “the most intense face-off ever” by one of the DAZN commentators.
And Garcia appeared to down a bottle of BEER as he flexed on stage after his missed weight debacle.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
