Devin Haney accused Ryan Garcia’s father Henry of making a racist comment as the press conference for their highly-anticipated super-lightweight showdown turned ugly on Thursday night.
After bizarrely arriving at the Los Angeles press conference on a horse, Garcia also confessed to drinking and smoking marijuana while denying Haney’s claims that he takes cocaine, before threatening to ‘beat the f**k out of’ a member of the crowd.
Haney, who will defend his WBC super-lightweight crown against Garcia at New York’s Barclays Center on April 20, taunted his rival by accusing him of being on cocaine at the second leg of their media tour.
‘Stop the coke n****, it’s f****ng up your voice,’ Haney said as Garcia spoke at the podium on stage.
‘I don’t do cocaine,’ Garcia replied. ‘I would do a live drug test [to prove it].
Devin Haney accused Ryan Garcia’s father Henry of making a racist comment as the press conference for their highly-anticipated super-lightweight showdown turned ugly
Haney claimed Garcia’s father Henry used a racist term after he referred to his dad Bill as a ‘nappy head motherf***er’
Henry Garcia insisted his insult was not a racist one as tempers flared in Los Angeles
His son also confessed to smoking weed and drinking two months out from the fight
WARNING – Explicit language in the clips below.
‘I drink and I smoke weed, and so has the majority of this room.’
Haney then responded: ‘What kind of example are you for the younger generation watching this? Talking about that you drink and you smoke weed, making that cool. The younger generation look up to us.’
Garcia shouted: ‘You’ve finally got somebody raising their hand saying, “I’m real. I’m like this. I do drink, I do smoke – now what?’
As the press conference continued and tensions escalated between the two camps, Garcia’s father on stage and mother Lisa in the crowd became embroiled in the war of words with both Haney and his dad Bill.
‘I don’t respect the man with the toupee over there, your husband,’ Bill called out to Lisa, ‘because he’s bringing up the bulls***.’
‘Nappy head motherf*****,’ Henry responded.
Devin took offence with Henry’s choice of insult, accusing his opponent’s father of using racist language.
‘Nappy head?’ he interrupted. ‘That sounds like some racist s***.’
‘That’s what he’s looking like,’ Henry said. ‘That’s what he’s looking like – I’m sorry – a nappy head.’
Henry Garcia’s ‘nappy head’ jibe appeared to be aimed at Haney’s father Bill (right)
The two teams and their families went back and forth in a fiery presser in LA on Thursday
‘Listen,’ Haney replied. ‘Us African-Americans, we have more coarse hair than you Latinos. But that does not make our hair nappy.
‘I don’t care about facts or whatever you have to say. At the end of the day, we’re African-Americans and we have different, coarse hair. That does not mean that our hair is nappy.
‘These people are not who you guys think they are. This guy’s talking about nappy hair. In what world is that OK to talk about a black man’s hair? We’re talking about a toupee; we did not ever say about black hair.’
He then added: ‘That was very unprofessional. April 20, the world will see. My hard work will pay off and we get this guy out of boxing. He’s a f***ing clown – him and his family.’
To conclude a dramatic and unsavory press conference, Garcia later became locked in a shouting match with a member of the audience, seemingly a friend or fan of Haney’s.
Haney is defending his WBC title for the first time at 140lbs up against Garcia on April 20
‘What if I came out there and I beat the f**k out of you motherf***er? Sit your little a** down.’
Haney is defending his WBC title for the first time at 140lbs after successfully dethroning former champion Regis Prograis in a dominant display back in December.
Shortly after that bout, Garcia returned from his first career defeat against Gervonta Davis last April and knocked out Oscar Duarte to get back to winning ways.