Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney have been playing out a heated rivalry in the build-up to their fight on April 20 and now Garcia has revealed how it all began.
It’s fair to say the build-up to this one has been fractious with lots of traded words, insults, and plenty of bizarre behaviour from Garcia.
He has accused Haney of fighting only for belts not legacy, has leaked sparring footage, has had people worried about his mental state and much more ahead of his second world title shot.
Haney will be defending the WBC super lightweight title he won off Regis Prograis in his first fight at this weight following him becoming undisputed down at lightweight.
Speaking to DAZN, Garcia recalled why happened when the pair fought back in the amateurs.
“We were at the Junior Olympic Nationals, we were about 14/15, I went at him right away, I had him hurt, wobbling, in the middle of the ring, everybody’s going crazy.
“One of his people in his corner came up to my dad after the fight and he goes Devin thinks you broke his eardrum, he can’t hear at all, they wanted to stop the fight.
“That’s just one example of what I’ve done to him, and he never gave me an eight count, they literally cut the video they were showing.
“He actually got a point taken away for hitting me in the back of the head and still won, that means he would have had to kill to me all the rounds. They probably robbed me in that fight but it’s all good I don’t even care.”
