By Declan Taylor
Wednesday, February 28
HIGH AS FUCK
The week kicked off with a packed out Wednesday, which started with a lovely picture of Dan Azeez and Joshua Buatsi breaking bread together out in Ghana only a few weeks after their long-awaited London derby.
But those feel-good vibes would definitely not extend to the two Californians who have this week embarked on a press tour to promoter their showdown on April 20. Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney had already come face to face at the initial press conference on Tuesday but with their LA slot booked for Thursday, Garcia filmed himself on a Twitter Space smoking a big joint claiming to be ‘high as fuck’. On seeing it, Haney responded: “I’m not going to that press conference tomorrow, this dude Ryan wasting mine and everybody’s time.”
Speaking of wasting time, The Week spent pretty much all of Wednesday playing the 8-bit ‘Knockout Chaos’ game launched by the Saudis as part of the promotion for Anthony Joshua v Francis Ngannou. Without wishing to cast any aspersions, it was much easier to win as Ngannou in the game, where you can rack up points by pummeling the other bloke. At the end, it asks you to submit your score but only if you enter your date of birth, mobile number and email address. Not for me, thanks.
Thursday, February 29
HORSE PLAY
It was a day that only comes around once every four years, but after sitting through the Los Angeles Haney-Garcia presser it was one of those days you wished had not happened at all,
Firstly Garcia turned up a horse and was then carried into the venue by a load of blokes. Then, inside, Haney accused Garcia of taking cocaine, to which he insisted he only drinks and smokes weed. Then, it plumbed a new low when Henry Garcia, father of Ryan, made a comment about Bill Haney’s hair which Devin described as ‘some racist shit’. There was still time for Garcia Jr to threaten to go into the crowd and ‘beat the fuck’ out of someone. The whole thing was a car crash.
And just as The Week had managed to put it all to the back of its mind, up popped Oscar De La Hoya, Garcia’s promoter, on Instagram with a video of him pretending to use a woman’s bra as a parachute. “Big titty committee,” cried the six-division world champion. “I’m parachuting back to Vegas.” In the words of Mick Hennessy, I’m not being funny, but what the fuck is going on here.
And if that was not enough, on Thursday evening in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Amanda Serrano got her hair dyed, but more on that later.
Friday, March 1
CAN’T MAKE AN OMELETTE
Finally some actual boxing to talk about as British boxing stalwart Sam Eggington – who is still only 30 – served up another cracker (sorry), this time against Abass Baraou, who claimed a well-earned majority decision in Telford to clinch the European light-middleweight title.
But there was some other action to assess on Friday too, although the footage is nearly nine years old. That is because Ryan Garcia decided to leak around two minutes of old footage with a 16-year-old Devin Haney having a very hard time with Gervonta Davis in a fabled sparring session at the Mayweather Gym.
The upload, which came in the aftermath of the pair’s heated press conference in LA, sent social media into a tailspin with everyone having their say. Shakur Stevenson, for instance, Tweeted: “Never in my life have I taken punishment like that from any fighter, good lord.”
Meanwhile, with her weigh-in ahead of Saturday’s scheduled clash with Nina Meinke fast approaching, Serrano went for a sweat run to shed some pounds but ended up with hair dye dripping into her eye. She got some eye drops to help the pain and stuck shades on for the weigh-in – panic over. Or so she thought.
Saturday, March 2
RAY OF THE ROVERS
At the Turning Stone Resort in Verona, it was pure drama as Ray Ford, behind on the cards, stopped Otabek Kholmatov with just seven seconds remaining to claim the WBA featherweight title.
According to a stat from Hall of Famer Steve Farhood, Ford is the 15th man in history to trail going into the last round and somehow pull a stoppage out of the fire. His promoter Eddie Hearn Tweeted: “I’ve enjoyed some unbelievable moments in this sport..my god that was right up there!!.”
Earlier on Saturday, in Michigan, heavyweight prospect Jared Anderson was charged with third-degree felony fleeing a police officer after a six-mile car chase where speeds exceeded 130mph, according to ESPN. ‘Big Baby’ was released after posting a bond of $10,000 on the condition he is not allowed to drive except to and from court.
The Huron Township director of public safety told ESPN: “We certainly believe it was a case of him baiting us based on the fact he had a camera mounted to the back of his vehicle and that he continued to play a cat-and-mouse game.”
Finally, in Puerto Rico, the commission doctors decided Serrano’s eyesight had been impaired to such an extent by the hair product that she would be unable to fight. A tearful Serrano, flanked by Jake Paul, announced the news to the crowd in the ring.
Sunday, March 3
Bit of a curveball for a Sunday but, over in – checks notes – Thailand, the undefeated world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury sat down and did a 15-minute interview with The Stomping Ground Youtube channel.
Top of the agenda was the latest on the cut that forced the postponement of his initial date with Oleksandr Usyk. “In the game shit happens,” he said. “It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last time a fight has been cancelled with an injury. At first I was a little bit pissed off because it didn’t look like it was going to happen but as soon as I got the date, two days later, it was fantastic.
“It’s already healed now, actually. A cut takes about eight weeks to heal up, I had 15 weeks from cut to fight date. I’m not worried about the cut. If it opens in the fight, fuck it, so what? I’ve had plenty of cuts before. It’s a fight.”
Fury is expected to be ringside in Riyadh when Anthony Joshua takes on Francis Ngannou on Friday night as his brother, Roman, is on the undercard. “When I was fighting Ngannou it was a mismatch and a shit fight,” Fury said. “But styles make fights. I put him on the map and made him a multi millionaire and now I’m making him even more money. He needs to thank me.”
Monday, March 4
NOT DEAD
If Wednesday and Thursday had felt unsavoury, this Monday was a deeply worrying day not only in the story of Haney-Garcia but also the latter’s state of mind in general.
On Sunday a disturbing video had been uploaded to Garcia’s social media claiming he was dead. His ex-wife Celina also took to Instagram and wrote: “’If all my followers who are believers can you please pray for Ryan. I’ve been in contact with him and he may seen fine but he is not. I know in my heart he is being heavily oppressed. This is not a troll, I’m genuinely concerned and so is all his family members. We are not part of any of this and want him to get better but this IS REAL. Pray for him.”
Then, by Monday, Garcia claimed he had been hacked and uploaded a video of himself with the caption ‘clearing things up’, where he said: “I wanted to send out a video to the people who love me, my fans and family that’s concerned to say, I’m OK, I’m not dead.”
In addition, he Tweeted: “Believe it or not, the fight is still on. See you in Brooklyn! 4/20 Barclays tickets on sale.” You sense this story does not end here.
Tuesday, March 5
MID LEVEL
By Tuesday, fight week in Saudi was gathering pace ahead of Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou’s Friday night showdown. Joshua took care of a swathe of media obligations over the weekend and even had time to bump into John Fury, who described their encounter as ‘lovely and heartfelt’.
That was not the only surprising bit from early on in the week, as Joshua was asked by Queensberry Promotions to rank a number of his fellow heavyweights as either GOAT, champion, world level, mid level or sparring partner. There were a couple of curveballs in Joshua’s assessment, mainly ranking his friend and former Finchley ABC boxer Dereck Chisora as a GOAT. Not quite as much love for Tyson Fury, however, as he was rated as champion while David Haye was languishing in ‘world level’. He put himself as ‘champion’, with the caveat that he’s not retired yet while Joe Joyce joined Sol Dacres, Robert Helenius, Zhilei Zhang, Filip Hrgovic and Fabio Wardley at ‘mid level’. Ouch.
On the subject of Wardley, his next attempt to haul himself into the zones about mid level takes place on March 31 – Easter Sunday – and on Tuesday it was confirmed that he and his opponent Frazer Clarke will go face to face for a promotional picture on the pitch at Portman Road at half time of Ipswich v Bristol City. Old school promoting, you’ve got to love it.
