Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney will meet for the WBC super-lightweight title later this year, and ‘King Ry’ has lifted the lid on their past amateur bouts, claiming that he dominated proceedings.
It was made official last week that the two men will clash in Las Vegas on April 20, with Garcia back in action following his victory over Oscar Duarte in December, while unbeaten Haney claimed the WBC 140lb title over Regis Prograis that same month.
The bad blood has already began to boil over between camps, partly due to a long rivalry amongst each fighter, dating back to before either man had turned professional.
They fought each other six times during the amateurs, with each man winning on three occasions, but the accounts of what happened during those fights may differ, with Garcia telling Jack Alter that his victories were much more meaningful.
“He’s weak when he gets touched. He remembers what I did to him. I barely know what he did. He doesn’t even hit hard. He won by points, when I won he got f**ked up. There’s a difference. When I hit him, I had his ass rocked many times.”
Garcia will be hoping to improve on his performance against Gervonta Davis last April where he suffered a seventh round stoppage loss, with Haney firing shots at his upcoming opponent over his desire to ‘quit’ in the bout.
Haney meanwhile looks to continue to climb the pound-for-pound ranks and have the same success at 140lbs that he did at 135lbs, where he became undisputed lightweight champion and earned wins over the likes of Vasyl Lomachenko and George Kambosos.