Ryan Garcia has criticised Keyshawn Davis for withdrawing from his ordered WBO welterweight title fight against Devin Haney over concerns about the proposed purse.
Davis had repeatedly expressed interest in facing Haney after becoming his mandatory challenger. Top Rank then won the purse bid, but Davis pulled out after being allocated approximately $2 million under the WBO’s ordered split.
Garcia said he was disappointed by the decision and argued that beating Haney could have opened the door to much larger paydays in the future.
“That is a clear chance to have one of those wins that sets you up for big, huge paydays,” Garcia said. “The two million or whatever he got offered was already more than he has ever made before, so what exactly are you looking for? For you to be overpaid?”
Garcia suggested Davis may have reconsidered the risk involved once the financial terms became clear. “It just shows you that a lot of people are big talkers,” he said. “They don’t really want to do it when it comes down to it.”
With Davis out of the picture, Haney is now being linked to a possible welterweight unification fight with newly crowned IBF champion Liam Paro, potentially in Australia.
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