Ryan Garcia feels he is being underestimated as he heads into battle with Devin Haney.

Garcia is facing the two-division world champion Haney, who currently holds the WBC junior welterweight title on Saturday, April 20, from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. 

Despite Haney, 31-0 (15 KOs), being a pound-for-pound fighter Garcia, 24-1 (20 KOs), has had stern comments for him ahead of their clash.

Speaking in Texas last week during his media workout, Garcia took time to answer questions and one of the more provocative ones stemmed from his assessment of rival, Haney’s boxing ability. Haney has been viewed as one of the most cerebral fighters of his era.

“I think people overrate his [Devin Haney] boxing ability, in my opinion,” said Garcia. 

Yet, Garcia is not feeling the same love about his boxing acumen. Garcia was a decorated national champion as an amateur. He did go 3-3 with Haney in amateurs, but it is often his speed and power that people talk about and not his boxing ability and ring intelligence. 

“I am underestimated,” said Garcia when asked if he thought people were undervaluing what he brings to this fight. “They hate me because I won’t shut the **** up and I keep talking, but I am going to keep doing that no matter what. At the end of the day, they just hate on me.”

One reason Garcia could be underestimated is some of his awkward defensive maneuvers. He can pull straight back – which is a big no-no as it leads to getting hit clean with a power shot from the opponent’s dominant hand. In his last fight with Oscar Duarte, Garcia used a ‘shoulder roll’ that looked bizarre – and got ridiculed. Garcia is very good at what he does, he has great timing and fights long, but he has arguably yet to put together a full performance as a professional. 

His best performance was a stoppage of Luke Campbell, in which he got off the canvas. It wasn’t, for example, the dominant performance Haney just had over Regis Prograis. 

The other glaring hole in Garcia’s resume is he has never won a world title.

“I was one of the best in the amateurs,” furthered Garcia. “I lost one fight to a guy who is arguably one of the best in the world [Gervonta Davis] – and he had to weight drain and he had to put [in] a rehydration clause.”

Garcia was stopped by Davis in the seventh round and while the contest did more than a million pay-per-view buys, Garcia had to agree to a rehydration clause. 

Now, Garcia gets his second act on pay-per-view – this time against Haney – a fighter not known for his power. Can Garcia redeem himself from his previous professional loss and channel his past amateur success? 

Garcia is the underdog, but he seems to think he can.