Ryan Garcia has stepped up the mind games with Devin Haney by sharing footage of his bitter rival being ‘rocked’ by Gervonta Davis during sparring.
Haney will defend his WBC super lightweight title against Garcia in a highly anticipated grudge match on April 20, when the two former amateur foes will clash in the professional ranks on a score of 3-3.
There is certainly no love lost between the pair and their respective families, as tempers flared Thursday during an unsavory press conference, where Garcia threatened to “beat the hell out” of a member of Haney’s entourage and the champion accused his entourage of challenger’s father of racism.
And just hours after those explosive events in LA, Garcia has tormented Haney by posting a clip of one of his unflattering sparring sessions during the early stages of his career.
The footage shows a young Haney, in his teens at the time, weathering a storm at Floyd Mayweather’s Las Vegas gym while sparring with boxing legend’s then-protégé Davis, who last year became the first man to Garcia defeated.
Ryan Garcia has shared footage of Devin Haney being ‘shaken’ by Gervonta Davis during sparring
Haney (left) will defend his WBC super lightweight title against Garcia (right) on April 20.
To ramp up the mind games with his rival, Garcia shared a clip of Haney (white gloves) being dominated by Davis (black gloves) during sparring while Floyd Mayweather (white cap) acts as referee
Davis (right), now a three-weight world champion, appears to be gaining the upper hand in spar
But Haney says he still holds his head high after being competitive early in his career
Garcia shared the sparring video on YouTube and captioned it, “Gervonta Tank Davis ROCKS Devin Haney!!!”
Davis, now a three-weight world champion, can be seen peppering Haney as his less experienced opponent backs up against the ropes several times.
Mayweather is seen refereeing the match in the ring, with four-weight world champion Adrien Broner even jumping in to break them up at one point.
But despite his apparent humiliation in front of Davis, a defiant Haney says he is proud of his achievements that day at such a young age.
“Never have they posted a chopped up edited video,” he wrote on X. “16 years old and mine in it. We bet AB (Adrien Broner) shows up and he honors it and pays it forward!
“Ryan, we saw you quit, we are not the same and will never show up on April 20th again. I’ll show you!’
Garcia was knocked out in the seventh round of his showdown with Davis last April, but was unable to get back to his feet after falling from a vicious body shot that night.
After bouncing back from his first professional defeat with a knockout victory over Oscar Duarte in December, the 25-year-old now has the chance to become world champion.
But standing in his way is Haney, who recently dethroned 140-pound champion Regis Prograis in dominant fashion.
Garcia arrived in LA on horseback on Thursday for the final leg of his and Haney’s media tour
Haney claimed Garcia’s father Henry used a racist term after calling his father Bill a ‘nappy head motherf***er’
The two teams and their families went back and forth in a fiery presser in LA on Thursday
After bizarrely arriving on horseback, Garcia admitted to drinking and smoking marijuana during their final press conference on Thursday, while denying Haney’s claims that he uses cocaine.
Haney targeted Garcia by accusing him of using cocaine during the second leg of their media tour.
“Cut the coke n****, it raises your voice,” Haney said as Garcia spoke at the podium.
“I don’t do cocaine,” Garcia replied. “I’d take a live drug test (to prove it).
“I drink and smoke weed, and so does most of this room.”
Haney then responded, “What kind of example are you to the younger generation watching this? Speaking of which, you drink and smoke weed, that’s what makes it cool. The younger generation looks up to us.’
Garcia shouted, “Finally you have someone who raises their hand and says, ‘I’m real. I’m like this. I drink and smoke, what now?’