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Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia have so much in widespread however couldn’t be extra totally different.
The fighters, who meet for Haney’s 140-pound title on pay-per-view Saturday in Brooklyn, are each 25 and proficient. They’re each from California. They each had robust beginner careers, which included six fights in opposition to each other. Every of them received 3 times.
They usually each have turn out to be standard skilled fighters, with tens of millions of {dollars} of their financial institution accounts as proof of that.
So the place are they totally different? The place will we begin?
Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) is a two-division titleholder who has climbed onto pound-for-pound lists after a sequence of spectacular victories over top-tier opponents, together with a shocking shutout of Regis Prograis to win his belt in December.
The native of San Francisco has been profitable partially due to his psychological toughness and self-discipline, which have allowed him to take full benefit of expertise. He may turn out to be No. 1 pound-for-pound sooner or later.
Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) is a minimum of as fast as Haney – in all probability faster – and he undoubtedly punches more durable than his rival, as his knockout proportion signifies. He additionally has a number of vital victories, most notably knockouts of Luke Campbell and Javier Fortuna.
Nevertheless, not like Haney, he failed the one time he confronted a pound-for-pound-level opponent. Gervonta Davis stopped him with a physique shot within the seventh spherical.
And, maybe extra considerably, Garcia, who has acknowledged psychological well being points, appears to be as emotionally fragile as Haney is steady and hard. Many imagine that weak spot can be his undoing after they step via the ropes on Saturday night time.
The social media star behaves erratically, taking weird pictures at celebrities or claiming to know who killed rapper Tupac Shakur. He additionally posted a picture of himself smoking what gave the impression to be marijuana solely seven weeks earlier than the combat, which admitted was a mistake.
A pink flag first went up for me the next day, at a information convention in Los Angeles, the place he acknowledged that he’s flawed and that it may be troublesome for a 25-year-old to deal with stardom.
“Generally the load of the world feels prefer it’s on my shoulders,” he stated.
That undoubtedly is true however, on the similar time, its a wierd remark given that almost all fighters attempt to undertaking energy, not weak spot within the lead as much as a combat.
Haney appeared to be honest when he requested Garcia repeatedly on the information convention whether or not Garcia deliberate to point out up for the combat. Garcia by no means responded, which was unusual.
Is Garcia in hassle earlier than he steps into the ring?
Nicely, Haney is a couple of 6½-1 favourite (common of a number of retailers), which is a large unfold given Garcia’s pedigree. The oddsmakers clearly imagine Haney’s mixture of potential and laser focus can be an excessive amount of for a mentally weak challenger.
Garcia may idiot us. Once more, he too, has potential and his personal pure items. And he has overcome obstacles prior to now.
For instance, he obtained up from a knockdown to cease the succesful Campbell, demonstrating that he could be resilient. And he returned from a troublesome 15-month layoff – to take care of his psychological challenges – to ship robust performances in opposition to Emmanuel Tagoe and Fortuna.
Stranger issues than a peculiar, seemingly distracted contender taking down a champion have occurred in boxing.
For his half, Garcia insists that he has improved as a fighter after coaching with the respects Derrick James. And he recommended that there’s methodology to his insanity.
“You’ll be able to’t deny all of the work that Derrick and I’ve put in both,” he stated Wednesday. “My approach is healthier, my fingers are up, the chin is down. What do you all should say? The social media is all simply noise. I submit one thing after which folks suppose I’m loopy.
“I do know what I’m doing.”
We’ll see.
This is a gigantic problem for him. Once more, Haney has all the flexibility on the earth and is as locked in as anybody in boxing. He’s rolling. We are able to solely guess what Garcia goes to convey into the ring.
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