Ryan Garcia reveals that he broke down after all the pressure got to him
Ryan Garcia stunned the world when he beat Devin Haney this past weekend but he has now made it an all the more impressive victory by revealing a shock issue he suffered before the contest.
Few thought Garcia could upset the odds and beat Haney when calling for the WBC super-lightweight world title at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn.
He displayed plenty of worrying signs about the state of his mental health in the lead-up to the contest, behaved erratically, made plenty of wild claims, and even drunk a beer during the ceremonial weigh-in after not making weight earlier and agreeing to pay Haney a fine.
However, come fight night he turned in the performance of his career. He shook Haney with his signature left hook in the very first round, then went on to knock down the unbeaten former undisputed world lightweight champion three times on his way to securing a majority points decision win.
The 25-year-old has now admitted that the stress and pressure of the huge fight finally got to him just before the ringwalks were due to take place, and admitted honestly that he broke down in tears.
His comments on this episode have been shared on X by Michael Benson.
“Nobody knows I was crying my eyes out before the [Devin Haney] fight. I could not contain myself, the pressure was overwhelming. I needed that cry though. I just wanna show people what it feels like before a big event. I had to let that cry out, then I felt better.”
However, reactions to the images he shared of the moment, which distinctly lacks any real tears, were met with disdain and apathy, especially as one image shows Ryan looking down the lens with one eye barely open just enough to be able to capture the potentially phony performance.
Since his victory, Garcia has called out the likes of British welterweight Conor Benn and even super-welterweight world champion Sebastian Fundora, who fights many weight classes above, but has also said he is open to a rematch with either Devin Haney or Gervonta Davis, who beat him last April via stoppage.