R. Garcia: “We agreed in advance that I would play a madman – you have no idea how easy it is to pretend to be someone you’re not on social networks”

On Saturday in Brooklyn (USA), the WBC second lightweight world champion, a 25-year-old American Devin Haney (31-1, 15 KOs) suffered the first loss of his career when he fell by knockdown three times and lost by majority decision (112-112, 110-114, 109-115) to his fellow American to Ryan Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs), though he was docked a point.

Garcia had been behaving strangely in the months leading up to the fight, causing fans to worry about his psychological state. Just before the fight, he announced that he proposed to an adult movie star, later he spoke incoherently at a press conference, did not lose weight, and weighed a bottle of beer. R. Garcia received 1.5 million for not losing weight. US dollars, lost the opportunity to claim the championship belt on Saturday, and D. Haney believed less and less in his chances to beat him. Just before the fight, the bookies estimated R. Garcia’s chances of beating D. Haney at just 15 percent. According to the forecasts, those opportunities were decreasing, but the fight showed that the reality is completely different, and R. Garcia achieved one of the most impressive victories of his career.

Recently, on the PBD podcast, R. Garcia admitted that he decided to play a madman some time ago.

“It was decided a few months ago. There is also video material confirming this. I said that I would convince everyone that my “roof came off”. I said I would act like a madman. Everything is recorded, everything was agreed upon. You have no idea how easy it is to pretend to be someone you’re not on social media.

I don’t even know how that idea came to me. One day I just thought I was going to act crazy before a fight. Sometimes I would move my nose and people would come up with all sorts of things. It was all acting,” said R. Garcia.

The American admitted that the only thing that was not played was the consumption of alcohol: “Yes, it was real. I actually drank a little during the training camp because I like it.”