Inside Ryan Garcia’s two-month public meltdown ahead of Saturday’s fight with super lightweight champion Devin Haney: UFOs, divorce, demonic possession, and a marriage proposal to a porn star… but is it all an act?

Typically, boxing promotion requires a string of public appearances, interviews, and maybe some light trash talk before stepping into the ring – just enough vitriol to give fight fans a taste of what’s to come. But after Friday’s Ryan Garcia-Devin Haney weigh-in, it’s hard to say what ticket holders are walking into on Saturday in Brooklyn. 

We do know it won’t be a title fight. Garcia (24-1) arrived at the weigh-in three pounds over the 140-pound limit, which means Haney’s WBC Super Lightweight crown won’t be on the line at Barclays Center. And, since Garcia agreed to pay Haney $500,000 for every extra pound, he now supposedly owes his opponent a cool $1.5 million – that is, provided the wager was legitimate and not just schtick. 

But to anyone who witnessed the weigh-in, that was the least of the problems as Garcia’s two-month public meltdown moved off social media and into a real-life setting. A day earlier, he began a press conference by thanking Jesus eight times and ended it with threats of sexual violence: ‘I put my d*** in your mouth b****!’

The two months leading up to fight week weren’t any better. Demonic possession, UFOs, and Garcia’s divorce from the mother of his newborn son are just some of the topics he’s touched upon since early March, when he first set off alarm bells by claiming he was deceased with a slit throat. 

One moment he’s accusing an anonymous family member of sexual abuse, and the next he’s flirting with a reporter, proposing to an Australian porn queen (she said yes!) or insisting that ‘TUPAC IS ALIVE AND WELL,’ as he wrote on X earlier this week.

Even Haney, one of the world’s best boxers at a perfect 31-0, is questioning Garcia’s preparation for Saturday. In response to some bizarre antics from the challenger during a joint GQ interview, Haney turned to the camera and admitted: ‘I don’t know if Ryan Garcia is taking this fight seriously or not.’

By Thursday’s press conference, where Garcia made a string sexual comments to attendees, Haney was more direct: ‘There’s something wrong with this motherf***er.’

It’s a question facing promoters Eddie Hearn and Oscar De La Hoya, the latter of whom has insisted that Garcia – his fighter – is prepared for Saturday night. 

Understandably, the rest of the boxing world remains unconvinced, and given Garcia’s recent ejection from a Mets game and his homophobic comments on social media, there are calls for Saturday’s bout to be abandoned.

YouTuber-turned-boxer KSI, for one, has called for the fight to be cancelled so Garcia can ‘get some help..’

Meanwhile, Hearn has voiced concerns about Garcia’s camp and its handling of the troubled boxer. 

‘I’m worried about the people that he has got around him, he’s not even my responsibility, but what I have seen in the last few days and obviously what came last night, is erratic behavior and erratic behavior stems from something,’ Hearn said in early March.

Hearn’s cryptic remarks aside, Garcia has repeatedly denied drug use, saying that he is ‘not on coke’ and has ‘never even thought to do drugs.’ (Although he recently suggested a bout with the UFC’s Jon Jones in another social media post, proposing that both fighters would be ‘coked out’)

But whether the issue is drugs or something else entirely, there are many ringing the alarm bells for Garcia, who is coming off a win over Oscar Duarte Jurado after being knocked out by Gervonta Davis one year ago. 

Even his recently divorced ex-wife Andrea Celina has begged fans for their thoughts and prayers.

‘If all my followers who are believers can you please pray for Ryan,’ she wrote on her Instagram story.

‘We are not together and i’ve (sic) been in contact with him and he may seem fine but he is not,’ she wrote. ‘I know in my heart he is being heavily oppressed. This is not a troll, I’m genuinely concerned and so is (sic) 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.’

Henry Garcia, Ryan’s father, insisted that his son was ‘ok’ in a social media post, adding that he is just ‘trolling the wrong way.’

But it’s hard to characterize any of the boxer’s behavior as ‘trolling.’

Was he acting when he told his social media followers that he was dead after having his throat slit? Or when he resurfaced in a social media video days later to claim his phone had been taken from him.

‘I’m being really taken advantage [of],’ he claimed at the time.

He called Tesla founder Elon Musk ‘the antichrist’ on Musk’s very own social network, X, but that was the least of his wild claims.

‘THE DEMONS CAN MORPH INTO CREATURES,’ read one nonsensical post.

‘I’m worry (sic) my tweets aren’t written properly,’ he followed. ‘I’m being heavily Attacked.’

Some posts appeared to be sincere, like when he hit back at critics after claiming to have been molested as a child.

‘It’s funny to people,’ he wrote. ‘I was raped as a two year old and I have proof and they laugh wtf is wrong with people. (sic)’

But Garcia has since followed this serious post with childish, homophobic allegations against Kanye West and others. He has repeatedly typed ‘f*** you’ to online critics, and even threatened to follow in Mike Tyson’s footsteps this Saturday.

‘I might bite Haney ears,’ he wrote. ‘Mike bit one ear. Ima bite both. I’m hungry.’

Haney and a shirtless Garcia got into a shoving match atop the Empire State Building during one promotional stop. Afterwards Garcia went on social media to accuse Haney of a ‘hate crime’ because he identifies ‘as a woman.’

But that was nothing compared to Tuesday’s Mets game, before which Haney and Garcia were scheduled to toss out the ceremonial first pitches. 

The baseball club retracted the arrangement in the 11th hour, fearing that the two boxers would let their animosity spill over into violence. Naturally, another profane social media rant followed, but by this point, boxing fans were beginning to tune out Garcia’s diatribe.

‘Yo guys, the Mets just wasted three hours of our life,’ Garcia said in the video, with promoter Oscar De La Hoya walking with him. ‘To say at the end: ”You can’t throw the pitch,” for whatever reason. There was no reason, and they kicked us out.’

‘I’m personally gonna say f*** the Mets,’ he exclaimed. ‘Don’t ever go to a f***ing Mets game again. F*** the Mets.’

If you’re wondering where the New York State Athletic Commission is in all this, it’s a bit unclear. Garcia has claimed that the Commission has demanded a mental health evaluation – something it has the power to do, according to a manual provided to DailyMail.com.

Of course, that didn’t stop him from posting a video of himself making threats to the Commission. 

‘I’m gonna sue you for defamation of character actually,’ Garcia said in the self-shot video. 

But as far as confirming Garcia’s claim, the NYSAC can’t do that because it is restricted by privacy issues. 

And for now, the Commission’s invisible hand is the only thing preventing a potential catastrophe on Saturday. De La Hoya and Golden Boy have given no indication they would pull their fighter from the bout, the financial repercussions of which could be cataclysmic in a struggling sport. 

And unless Garcia bows out, there might not be anything stopping a mentally unstable person from getting into the ring with an undefeated champion who ranks among the best fighters on earth.