Devin Haney on Thursday said what everyone was thinking after the final news conference to promote his 140-pound title defense against Ryan Garcia on Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
“Something is wrong with this m—–f—–,” Haney said near the end of a bizarre event. “Let me tell you now, something is wrong with him. This s— is not normal.”
Garcia, who will be fighting for a major title for the first time, has acted erratically at events, on camera and on social media for some time. He simply topped himself at the news conference as Haney sat at the dais a few meters away.
The challenger was introduced by his promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, after which the odder-than-ever behavior commenced.
“What do you guys want me to say?” he said as the lectern at center stage. “I’ve already said everything. What do you want me to do? I’ve already done it all. Already said it all, already done it all. Now I’m just ready to kick ass. I’m going there just to f— this man up. You don’t understand, I’m going to f— him up.”
He was only getting started.
“You don’t know what I’ve been training like. You don’t know the vision I have. I’m on fire, I’m on fire. I’ll break this whole thing (the lectern, presumably). That’s how on fire I am. I’m strong, I’m strong, I’m strong.”
The “I’m strongs” then evolved into loud grunts, as if he were a cave man. And then he took it to another, harder-to-decipher level.
“And I’m louder than their whole team,” he said. “They got like five people there. Look how loud, ‘WOOOOOOOOOOO!’” He uttered a profanity and sat back down.
Then came a question-and-answer period, during which the boxers talked about the fight for a while.
Haney was asked whether he planned to slug it out with Garcia in the middle of the ring. He responded by questioning his opponent’s heart. Garcia was asked the same question. He said Haney would be stupid to go toe-to-toe with him and invited him do so.
The fighters also made a bet: If either fighter comes in overweight on Friday, he must pay the other $500,000 per pound. The two actually shook hands to seal their impromptu deal, which made Garcia look normal for a moment.
Garcia wouldn’t leave it at that, though. He served up his most bizarre – and disgusting — moment to close the news conference, insulting Haney’s mother in the crudest terms and then directing one last sexually oriented shot at his opponent.
That’s when Haney said what seemed to be obvious: “This s— is not normal.”
