Professional boxer Ryan Garcia bet two million dollars on his victory against Devin Haney. He won the fight along with a fortune wherein millions poured in for him.
The Mexican-American boxer shocked the world by defeating Devin Haney recently.
Some fans criticized Garcia’s reported bet, while other applauded his confidence and conviction. His decision to bet on himself was labeled by some fans as a genius move. They even cited the boxer’s eccentricity leading up to the fight.
A fan noted on X, “This is literally illegal.” Another one added, “So you’re saying boxer could bet on the opponent to win too? This sounds like it could become a big scandal one day if a boxer ended up doing that.”
Garcia was so confident that he would win the fight that he decided to bet on himself with two million dollars.
He wrote on social media after the fight, “if you bet, bet on yourself.” The bet paid off as he pocketed 12 million dollars. This is a considerable amount on top of the 50 million dollars he earned from the fight.
Nonetheless, in spite of winning by split decision against Haney, he didn’t win the WBC super lightweight championship belt. García missed weight by 3.2 pounds. Because of this, he was not eligible for the belt and saw his earnings reduced by 1.5 million dollars.
The bet started from Garcia’s failure to make weight for the fight. In spite the agreed-upon weight limit of 140 pounds, he weighed at 143.2 pounds. He agreed to pay Haney 500,000 dollars per pound he was over the limit, as part of the pre-fight agreement. Garcia ended up paying Haney around 1.5 million dollars.
Ryan Garcia concluded in his message on social media after the fight that he’ll let God guide him on how to use this money. Today, he’s spending it on celebrating his victory in style.
