(Editor’s be aware: This story first revealed at Boxing Junkie, a part of the USA TODAY Community.)
Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia have quite a bit in frequent 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 gifted. They’re each from California. They each had sturdy novice careers, which included six fights in opposition to each other. Every of them received 3 times.
They usually each have develop into well-liked skilled fighters, with thousands and thousands 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 collection 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 might develop into No. 1 pound-for-pound someday.
Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) is at the least as fast as Haney – in all probability faster – and he undoubtedly punches tougher than his rival, as his knockout share signifies. He additionally has just a few vital victories, most notably knockouts of Luke Campbell and Javier Fortuna.
Nevertheless, in contrast to 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 secure and hard. Many consider 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, to call two examples. He additionally posted a picture of himself smoking what gave the impression to be marijuana solely seven weeks earlier than the struggle, which he 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 burden of the world feels prefer it’s on my shoulders,” he mentioned.
That undoubtedly is true however, on the identical time, its a wierd remark given that almost all fighters attempt to undertaking energy, not weak spot within the lead as much as a struggle.
Haney gave the impression to be honest when he requested Garcia repeatedly on the information convention whether or not Garcia deliberate to indicate up for the struggle. 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 shops), which is an enormous unfold given Garcia’s pedigree. The oddsmakers clearly consider Haney’s mixture of potential and laser focus can be an excessive amount of for a mentally weak challenger.
Garcia might idiot us. Once more, he too, has potential and his personal pure presents. And he has overcome obstacles prior to now.
For instance, he bought 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 sturdy 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 advised that there’s methodology to his insanity.
“You may’t deny all of the work that Derrick and I’ve put in both,” he mentioned Wednesday. “My method is best, 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 assume 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 deliver into the ring.
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