There’s no word on the Garcia vs. Haney PPV numbers a week on from a blockbuster event at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Usually, there’s is some indication of what the sales might be for a fight of that magnitude after Ryan Garcia dropped Devin Haney three times en route to a stunning decision.
Those figures remain under lock and key and could do so for the foreseeable future despite predictions from promoter Oscar De La Hoya of 1.5 million sales.
Meanwhile, De La Hoya’s rival Eddie Hearn did not leak those Garcia vs Haney PPV numbers, which got attributed to a falsified direct message exchange on Instagram.
In what’s becoming a plague on social media, accounts can be altered to look as though they are verified. Hearn is the latest victim of a hoax that Ryan Garcia has himself practiced in the last few weeks.
Garcia posted a fake DM between his recent opponent from a doctored profile. The same has happened with the Matchroom boss.
Hearn quoted an imaginative number of just under one million, which holds 1.3 million followers and looked legit on the surface. However, it’s not true, and no promoter in the world would specifically post numbers and gate figures, whatever the circumstances.
The furor and clamor for the number stems from Garcia’s pre-fight behavior, which may open up a can of worms for future sales. Acting like you should get pulled from a fight could be a formula adopted if the event numbers prove a massive hit.
Even after the fight was over, Garcia was boasting about his trolling.
“Who’s the crazy one now? I drank every single night. And what happened? I won!
“I walked through the fire, still held it down, still beat Devin Haney, and still drank every day and beat him. You know, I did everything. Drank every single night. I went out Monday and Tuesday, drank, and drank. What happened? I won. Not necessarily am I proud of it.”
With his new-found confidence, Garcia even stated he could move up fourteen pounds to knock out the super welterweight champion.
“I had a vision of fighting Sebastian Fundora at 154. But I don’t know. I just feel like I could knock him out. I know that’s really, really random, but I feel like I could get a title at 154. Shout out to Fundora, though, no disrespect.”
Former world champion Ishe Smith, who was the first Las Vegas-born fighter to win the super welterweight championship, was one of many to question Garcia’s demeanor.
“So which one is promoting the fight, running past strangers asking if they support [child abusers]? Talking about Jesus, but dropping F-bomb after F-bomb after F-bomb for no apparent reason? Is these antics really supporting the fight or hurting his brand?”
Either way, Garcia is a hit and now a top ten pound-for-pound fighter after defeating a former two-weight world champion and undisputed king at 135.
Garcia is at number ten due to defeating the number five guy in the ratings. Furthermore, Haney dropped to fifteen after the loss.
Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor since 2010. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
