Devin Haney accused Ryan Garcia’s father, Henry, of making a racist comment when the press conference for their long-awaited super lightweight showdown turned ugly Thursday night.
After bizarrely arriving at the Los Angeles press conference on horseback, Garcia also confessed to drinking and smoking marijuana while denying Haney’s claims that he uses cocaine, before threatening to “beat up” a member of the crowd.
Haney, who will defend his WBC super lightweight crown against Garcia at the Barclays Center in New York on April 20, mocked his rival by accusing him of using cocaine on the second leg of his media tour.
“Stop doing coke, black, it’s fucking up your voice,” Haney said as Garcia spoke on the stage podium.
“I don’t use cocaine,” Garcia responded. ‘I would take a live drug test (to prove it).
Devin Haney accused Ryan Garcia’s father, Henry, of making a racist comment when the press conference for their long-awaited super lightweight showdown turned ugly.
Haney claimed that Garcia’s father, Henry, used a racist term after referring to his father Bill as a ‘nappy-headed son of a bitch.’
Henry Garcia insisted his insult was not racist as tempers flared in Los Angeles.
His son also confessed to smoking marijuana and drinking two months after the fight.
WARNING: Explicit language in the clips below.
“I drink and smoke marijuana, as does most of this room.”
Haney then responded: ‘What kind of example are you to the younger generation that sees this? Speaking of which, you drink and smoke weed, which makes it cool. “The younger generation looks up to us.”
Garcia shouted, “Finally someone raised their hand and said, ‘I’m real. I’m like this. I drink, I smoke, now what?”
As the press conference continued and tensions rose between the two sides, Garcia’s father on stage and mother Lisa in the crowd became embroiled in the war of words with both Haney and his father Bill.
“I don’t respect the man with the toupee over there, your husband,” Bill yelled at Lisa, “because he’s raising nonsense.”
“Nappy head, son of a bitch,” Henry replied.
Devin took offense to Henry’s chosen insult and accused his opponent’s father of using racist language.
‘Diaper head?’ -she interrupted. “That sounds like racist shit.”
“That’s what it looks like,” Henry said. “That’s what it looks like, sorry, a diaper head.”
Henry Garcia’s ‘diaper head’ jibe appeared to be directed at Haney’s father, Bill (right)
The two teams and their families had an intense press conference in Los Angeles on Thursday.
“Listen,” Haney responded. ‘We African Americans have coarser hair than you Latinos. But that doesn’t make our hair look nappy.
‘I don’t care about the facts or what you have to say. After all, we are African Americans and we have different, coarse hair. That doesn’t mean our hair is unkempt.
‘These people are not who you think they are. This guy is talking about diaper hair. In what world is it okay to talk about a black man’s hair? We are talking about a toupee; We never said about black hair.
Then he added: “That was very unprofessional.” On April 20 the world will see it. My hard work will pay off and we will get this guy out of boxing. He’s a fucking clown, him and his family.
To conclude a dramatic and unpleasant press conference, Garcia later became involved in a shouting match with an audience member, apparently a friend or fan of Haney.
Haney will defend his WBC title for the first time at 140 pounds against Garcia on April 20.
‘What if I go out and beat you up, you son of a bitch? Sit your little ass down.’
Haney is defending his WBC title for the first time at 140 pounds after successfully dethroning former champion Regis Prograis in a dominant display in December.
Shortly after that fight, Garcia returned from the first loss of his career against Gervonta Davis last April and knocked out Oscar Duarte to return to winning ways.