Devin Haney says Ryan Garcia has helped his cause towards a potential future Gervonta Davis clash after posting a clip of the pair sparring on YouTube.
Garcia appeared to stoke the fire between him and WBC super lightweight champion, Haney ahead of their showdown on April 20 in Brooklyn, by leaking footage of his rival sparring Davis at the Mayweather Boxing Club, when both men were teenagers.
Despite ‘King Ry’ captioning the video ‘Gervonta Davis ROCKS Devin Haney!!!!’ ‘The Dream’ insists the video has only increased anticipation for their bout as well as a future ‘Tank’ clash.
“It wasn’t something that I was mad about,” Haney told FightHype.com.
“Showing the sparring when I was 16-years-old.
“It was about not showing the whole sparring is what threw me off, because if it was a massacre like they say, they would have shown the whole thing.
“But, they knew what they was doing.
“At that point it brought more attention to the fight. It brought more buzz to the fight.
“More people were talking about me and Ryan Garcia and even talking about a potential me and Tank fight.
“So, I seen the positive in it, but then Ryan Garcia started his bull****.”
Floyd been hating a long time.. this ain’t just start. I held my tongue for years because I respect the greats of the sport. But dude is a bonifide hater don’t wanna see nobody win if he not apart of it! I know he sent Ryan the sparring… I know he gave Ryan those “pimp” comments…
— Devin Haney (@Realdevinhaney) March 1, 2024
Following the sparring leak, Haney, who will make a first defence of his title on April 20, claimed that Floyd Mayweather Jr was responsible for sending the footage to Garcia.
The 25-year-old, who was stopped by ‘Tank’ in seven rounds last April, was pictured running in Las Vegas with the five-weight world champion, whilst he was in talks to face Haney and claimed the Hall of Famer convinced him to fight WBA super lightweight champion, Rolly Romero instead.
When Romero signed to fight Isaac Cruz on March 30 in Las Vegas, Garcia revisited talks with his former amateur rival and agreed to fight him for the first time as professionals at Barclays Center.
Garcia has caused concern online over whether he will make it to the ring on April 20, due to some unusual conduct, notably admitting to being high during a live chat on X.
Garcia’s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya however has insisted the fight is going ahead, despite his erratic behaviour.
