Garcia badly misses weight for Haney bout, losing title shot and $1.5m bet

Ryan Garcia has spectacularly failed to make weight for his super-lightweight world championship with Devin Haney, prompting a series of last-minute negotiations between the camps to have Saturday’s fight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn as a non- to organize a title fight.

Garcia weighed in behind closed doors on Friday morning at 143.2 pounds, an eye-popping 3.2 pounds over the division limit, prior to a ceremonial weigh-in open to the public later in the day.

The battle will continue after the parties reach a secret financial agreement that will award a portion of Garcia’s wallet to Haney. But Garcia is no longer eligible to win Haney’s WBC title. If Haney loses, the belt will become available.

The debacle will do little to allay lingering concerns about the mental fitness of Garcia, whose erratic behavior in person and on social media has almost completely overshadowed the promotion. As the news spread Friday morning, the 25-year-old Orange County native then fired off a series of tweets suggesting he never planned to make the contracted weight.

“I feel great and I have a 3-pound lead,” Garcia wrote. “Winners do what they have to do, I’m still sharp.”

Garcia’s problems reaching the super lightweight limit first surfaced prior to his victory over Oscar Duarte in December, which took place at 143 pounds after initially being signed at 140 pounds.

Haney has been pushing Garcia throughout the build-up to Saturday’s fight, predicting he wouldn’t be able to make the cut. During Thursday’s final press conference, Haney challenged Garcia to pay him $500,000 per pound if he didn’t make the weight. Garcia accepted the bet despite obvious protests from his father and trainer sitting next to him.

A statement from Golden Boy Promotions said Garcia “will honor the handshake given at the final press conference yesterday.”

“We have a fight,” the statement read.

Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) confirmed the $1.5 million windfall, tweet: “Ryan has honored the 500k per pound.”