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In an era where the best fighting the best is a rare occasion, Ryan Garcia has changed the game in more ways than one. At first, he delighted the boxing world by deciding to face Devin Haney. However, his other decision to add stipulations in the contract with Haney has Devin’s father, Bill Haney, feeling a certain way! Stipulations?

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While appearing in No Jumper’s The Sharp Tank segment, Haney Sr. threw some unbelievable accusations at Ryan Garcia. The trainer cum manager to Devin accused Garcia of blindsiding them with stipulations regarding his social media antics, confirming Garcia’s actions on X were planned, in other words, fake. 

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Bill Haney labels Garcia’s “movements” “distraction”

Speaking to Bill, the ringmaster extraordinaire of the show, Sharp, brought up Garcia’s antics over the past few months, questioning Haney Sr.’s thoughts on it. In response, Bill Haney didn’t take long to express his mind. “Ryan Garcia raised his hand [to fight Devin Haney], but he also came with some stipulations. One of those stipulations being that he’s now wanting to embrace different movements,” said Bill. 

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While Bill doesn’t want to judge Garcia’s decision to include such things in the contract, he also feels that it’s “not boxing business.” Haney Sr. highlighted Garcia wants to start talking about “these other things” while he has the platform and attention of the masses. Devin’s father further suggested, “If we would have known that’s what you were gonna do, then maybe we as a team would have looked at it [differently].”

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However, since Haney and his team are in the middle of the fight, “we know now that’s just a distraction,” said Haney Sr. Despite that, the thing that seems to have blindsided Haney Sr. and the whole team, it’s, “no one traditionally doesn’t do what this guy is doing.” While Bill Haney doesn’t seem too happy about Garcia’s antics, Garcia’s promoter is over the moon about it. 

Oscar De La Hoya says it’s all because of Ryan Garcia

There’s no doubt that Ryan Garcia’s erratic, bordering, offensive behavior made the fight so much more than it would have been without it. Chances are people would have watched it nonetheless, but given the proximity to other fights, it indeed needed another selling point. Something Oscar De La Hoya credits Ryan Garcia for providing. 

Speaking to Ariel Helwani in the MMA Hour podcast, the head of Golden Boy Promotions said, “He is the cash cow. He is the money-maker. We’ll have a sell-out crowd here at Barclays. The pay-per-views are going to go through the roof. It’s going to be crazy, and it’s all because of Ryan.”

In a nutshell, blindsided or not, Ryan Garcia’s stipulation about his social media rampage did indeed help sell the fight. However, looking into the ethics of the decision, no one can deny Garcia’s guilt. Despite that, the matter is extremely subjective, especially if Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney deliver a night of excitement. What are your thoughts on Garcia’s trickery? Do you think it will become a new norm?

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Written by

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Sudeep Sinha

4,781 Articles

Sudeep Sinha is a Golf Writer at EssentiallySports, covering the PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and the storylines around the sport's biggest events and names. He previously spent over two years writing in the Boxing department, where his fight-night coverage was featured on Sports Illustrated, Daily Mail, and Yahoo Sports, including his reporting on Ryan Garcia's career arc. On the golf beat, Sudeep covers tour news, player form, and the season-long storylines that shape the men's and women's game, from majors to the ongoing shifts in how professional golf is structured. That same appetite for detail that made his boxing coverage stand out now shows up in how he breaks down a swing change or a schedule shakeup for hardcore and casual fans alike. Outside work, he splits his time between reading, cycling, and following combat sports.

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Snigdhaa Jaiswal

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