WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman has addressed concerns regarding Ryan Garcia’s mental wellbeing ahead of his mammoth super-lightweight title showdown against Devin Haney this weekend, admitting that there have been ‘scary’ moments during the build-up.
Haney vacated his undisputed lightweight title to move up to 140lbs last year and appeared to take to the weight well, whitewashing Regis Prograis with a knockdown along the way to win comfortably and pick up the WBC belt, becoming a two-division champion.
Meanwhile, Ryan Garcia was defeated for the first time as a professional when he faced Gervonta Davis, taking a knee during the seventh round after a inch-perfect liver shot and sitting out the referee’s count.
Now Garcia challenges for a world title for the first time during his career, seeking to become the first man to defeat Devin Haney as a professional..
However, his uncharacteristic behaviour since the announcement of the fight, including smoking marijuana, faking his own death and promoting wild conspiracy theories, has led fans to believe that he should not be stepping through the ropes as all.
In an interview with Boxing Social, Sulaiman understood fans’ concerns but reassured them that Ryan Garcia is fit to fight.
“At the beginning, yes. There were a couple of posts that were scary, but we have spoken to him and he is doing great, he is training great.
“Social media is very big and has a very powerful impact for the good and the bad, let’s just concentrate on what happens in the ring. It is going to be a great fight.”
Both Shakur Stevenson and Adrien Broner have offered to step in and assume Garcia’s position should he be forced to drop out, but it appears that he will in fact take part in this Saturday’s contest, which can be watched live on DAZN PPV.