Ryan Garcia and Avery Sparrow had an animated exchange of words during the final press conference Thursday.
But when the weigh-in rolled around Friday, only Garcia made it to the scales, weighing in at 135 pounds even. Sparrow, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found. Because of that, he was scratched from the co-main event of the Jaime Munguia-Patrick Allotey card, and Garcia will not be fighting.
As confirmed by Golden Boy, it was learned after the weigh-in that Sparrow had been arrested for a prior charge. No other information was yet available.
According to DAZN’s Chris Mannix, there was a backup fighter in place, Romero Duno, who’s also on Saturday’s card. But even though Garcia has publicly said he wants to face Duno at some point, he didn’t want to take the fight at the last minute.
“(Golden Boy president Eric) Gomez told me he informed Garcia’s camp of the potential problem on Wednesday,” Mannix said before Friday’s Devin Haney-Zaur Abdullaev card. “He told them on Friday when this all came apart, today, that Duno was ready to fight, and he was told by Garcia’s camp that they will not fight Duno. According to Gomez, it was because Duno is too tough.”
Via Twitter, Gomez clarified his statements to the media about why a Garcia-Duno fight wouldn't happen on short notice.
At the weigh-in, Sparrow's no-show prompted Garcia to grab the mic and call his opponent out.
"I just want to know where he's at," Garcia said. "He talked a lot and I don't see him here. He told me he makes 126 (pounds) easily. I don't know where he's at. I just wanted this fight, so somebody call him, somebody ring him up.
"Let's fight," he added, "let's get this on."
But with the fight off, Garcia will have to wait and see just when his next fight might be.