Ryan Garcia’s father has admitted his son was not in the best shape of his career despite celebrating his victory over Devin Haney in April.

The 25-year-old looked more muscular than he had done previously and after knocking down Haney three times in the fight, taking his record to 25-1 and ending the American’s 31-fight unbeaten run.

But his father, Henry, has now suggested he was struggling physically to stay in the fight as he wasn’t prepared enough, which made him go all out to secure the knockout.

Speaking with former welterweight champion Shane Mosley, Garcia Sr admitted that his son wasn’t “totally” into the training for the Haney bout – and pointed to his win over Oscar Duarte, where he says he was more focused about getting fit.

“He seemed comfortable, Shane. But he wasn’t in shape. My son wasn’t in shape, at 100% for Devin,” Garcia Sr said.

“I feel real bad, but I mean, I have to be honest. My son was in better shape with Oscar Duarte than he was [against] Devin Haney. If you look at my son fighting Devin Haney, he only fought in spurs. He wasn’t consistent. He would fight, and then he would slow down.”

Ryan Garcia’s behavior raises eyebrows

Even before Garcia entered the ring, his failure to make the weight for the fight by 3.2lbs made people stand up and pay attention.

It proved to be a costly error on Garcia’s part, as he was forced to fork out $1.5million to hand to Haney as a penalty and also meant he couldn’t fight for Haney’s belts.

But it did eventually work in his favor, as the weight advantage only added to his power in the ring. When asked whether it was planned by his son, Garcia said: “I don’t have the answer for that.”

Garcia is awaiting the results of his B-sample after testing positive for Ostarine, a performance-enhancing drug (PED), in his A-sample before and after the fight.

The boxer has protested his innocence, tweeting: “Everybody knows that I don’t cheat. Never taken a steroid, I don’t even know where to get steroids. I barely take supplements. Big lies.”