Ryan Garcia has talent set to compete with Devin Haney. Does he have mindset?

Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia have lots in frequent however couldn’t be extra totally different.

The fighters, who meet for Haney’s 140-pound title on DAZN pay-per-view Saturday in Brooklyn, are each 25 and gifted. They’re each from California. They each had sturdy newbie careers, which included six fights in opposition to each other. Every of them gained 3 times.

They usually each have turn out to be widespread skilled fighters, with tens of millions of {dollars} of their financial institution accounts as proof of that.

So the place are they totally different? The place can we begin?

Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) is a two-division titleholder who has climbed onto pound-for-pound lists after a sequence of spectacular victories over top-tier opponents, together with a shocking shutout of Regis Prograis to win his belt in December.

The native of San Francisco has been profitable partially due to his psychological toughness and self-discipline, which have allowed him to take full benefit of expertise. He may turn out to be No. 1 pound-for-pound in the future.

Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) is at the least as fast as Haney – in all probability faster – and he undoubtedly punches tougher than his rival, as his knockout share signifies. He additionally has a number of important victories, most notably knockouts of Luke Campbell and Javier Fortuna.

Nevertheless, in contrast to Haney, he failed the one time he confronted a pound-for-pound-level opponent. Gervonta Davis stopped him with a physique shot within the seventh spherical.

And, maybe extra considerably, Garcia, who has acknowledged psychological well being points, appears to be as emotionally fragile as Haney is steady and difficult. Many imagine that weak spot shall be his undoing after they step by way of the ropes on Saturday night time.

The social media star behaves erratically, taking weird photographs at celebrities or claiming to know who killed rapper Tupac Shakur, to call two examples. He additionally posted a picture of himself smoking what seemed to be marijuana solely seven weeks earlier than the combat, which he admitted was a mistake.

A crimson flag first went up for me the next day, at a information convention in Los Angeles, the place he acknowledged that he’s flawed and that it may be troublesome for a 25-year-old to deal with stardom.

“Typically the burden of the world feels prefer it’s on my shoulders,” he mentioned.

That undoubtedly is true however, on the similar time, its a wierd remark given that the majority fighters attempt to undertaking energy, not weak spot within the lead as much as a combat.

Haney appeared to be honest when he requested Garcia repeatedly on the information convention whether or not Garcia deliberate to indicate up for the combat. Garcia by no means responded, which was unusual.

Is Garcia in hassle earlier than he steps into the ring?

Effectively, Haney is a few 6½-1 favourite (common of a number of retailers), which is an enormous unfold given Garcia’s pedigree. The oddsmakers clearly imagine Haney’s mixture of means and laser focus shall be an excessive amount of for a mentally weak challenger.

Garcia may idiot us. Once more, he too, has means and his personal pure items. And he has overcome obstacles previously.

For instance, he acquired up from a knockdown to cease the succesful Campbell, demonstrating that he may be resilient. And he returned from a troublesome 15-month layoff – to take care of his psychological challenges – to ship sturdy performances in opposition to Emmanuel Tagoe and Fortuna.

Stranger issues than a peculiar, seemingly distracted contender taking down a champion have occurred in boxing.

For his half, Garcia insists that he has improved as a fighter after coaching with the respects Derrick James. And he advised that there’s methodology to his insanity.

“You possibly can’t deny all of the work that Derrick and I’ve put in both,” he mentioned Wednesday. “My method is best, my fingers are up, the chin is down. What do you all must say? The social media is all simply noise. I submit one thing after which folks assume I’m loopy.

“I do know what I’m doing.”

We’ll see.

This is a gigantic problem for him. Once more, Haney has all the power on this planet and is as locked in as anybody in boxing. He’s rolling. We are able to solely guess what Garcia goes to deliver into the ring.

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