By Norm Frauenheim –
It was a moment that summed up a fight that is interesting, even intriguing for reasons still hard to read.
Ryan Garcia threw away a book.
It was a response to a mocking gesture, a paper-back from Bill Haney.
The title: Psychology For Dummies.
Garcia flung it into an audience full of dummies at the final news conference for the contentious Devin Haney-Garcia fight Saturday (DAZN, 5 pm PT/8 pm ET) at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
Garcia, who was wearing what looked to be a flak jacket throughout the live-streamed newser, didn’t smile. It’s safe to say he didn’t get the joke.
There haven’t been a whole lot of laughs throughout the build-up before the bout for Haney’s junior-welterweight title.
Garcia has been throwing away a lot of proverbial books in an erratic path to opening bell. The book on trash-talk-at-its-best is to do it with a wink and a clever smile.
Bill Haney, Devin’s father and trainer, might have had that in mind when he arrived at the podium and delivered the sly punch-line, perhaps as a way to take off some of the anger on the fight’s sharpening edge
But it looked as if Garcia didn’t get the message. He still looked angry, a fighter fighting himself with a look he’s had throughout a bizarre succession of taunts, threats and temper tantrums posted on social media.
There’s no shortage of opinions about what he’s doing. From crazy to calculated, everybody has one, including this corner. We’re all dummies. Maybe, that’s why Garcia tossed that book into the crowd. Only he knows.
“Something is wrong with this m-effer,’’ Haney said Thursday at the end of the newser, which did not include the traditional face-to-face ritual for the cameras.
But Haney, whose eyes were hidden by sunglasses throughout, couldn’t say exactly what was wrong. Maybe, his dad should have given his son a copy of that book, too.
The prevailing diagnosis is that Garcia’s wild, often dark rants are in fact a tactic – his way of confusing and angering Haney so much that he’ll make mistakes –leave himself open for a big left hand — in a foolish pursuit of an early stoppage.
By when has Haney ever fought that way? At 25, he’s already known as cerebral. The book on Haney is that he’s guided by poise and discipline.
There was a sign, perhaps, that Garcia was getting to him earlier this week when both faced off for the media at the top of the Empire State Building. Haney appeared to reach for Garcia’s throat. Then, he shoved him.
But Haney did the same thing against the accomplished Vasiliy Lomachenko at the weigh-in before their fight last May in Las Vegas. He nearly shoved Lomachenko off the stage.
The next night, Haney’s poise prevailed in scoring a unanimous decision over the skilled Ukrainian. The scorecards were debatable. But Haney’s discipline was not.
Against Garcia, Haney faces a different dynamic. His hands are fast. The power in his left is lethal. He’s explosive. But what happens if Haney’s disciplined defense eludes his early assaults? What does Garcia do next? More anger won’t get it done.
Garcia’s posts have been condemned and countered, evaluated and analyzed. You see the anger, but no patience.
Whatever the conclusions, it’s beginning to look as if Garcia is performing for his social media universe, a place never known for patience or accountability.
Only Gallup can count the number of Garcia followers. They’re hard to ignore, especially for any promoter. But they’re even harder to control. Garcia used to run them, but increasingly it looks as if things have switched. They’re running him, demanding more and more, all in the blink of virtual time.
“Social media and reality are two different things,’’ Garcia promoter Oscar De La Hoya said in a DAZN interview before Garcia and Haney arrived for Thursday’s newser.
They are, or at least they should be.
But the reality is also this: Without some newfound patience in Garcia, Haney will teach him that social media is not a skill set.
