If you keep abreast of our news headlines, you may have noticed a particularly bizarre story from the world of boxing last month. The odds lengthened on Ryan Garcia to beat Devin Haney after the super-lightweight fighter appeared to have a meltdown on social media. Now, many fans are speculating it was all an act.

In early March, the odds for Garcia to beat Haney shifted from +350 to +550 in just one week after a series of strange social media posts making reference to the devil. After deleting the posts, Garcia released a video to confirm his wellbeing but also claiming he had been held hostage:

The 25-year-old boxing star created even more confusion when he appeared on an X space with controversial internet personality Andrew Tate. Garcia alleged he was held down and forced to watch sexual assault on “little kids” at a place called “Bohemian Grove,” a campsite in California often included in conspiracy theories about America’s rich and powerful.

Garcia has revealed that he bet $2m on himself to win the bout

Garcia’s posts eventually died down and the boxing star clearly committed to his training, so much so that he defeated Haney over the weekend. Now, Garcia has revealed that he bet $2m on himself to win the bout, earning him $12m. Although Garcia was always the underdog, his early March meltdown undoubtedly tipped those odds even more against him.

Commenting on X, many fans put two and two together. “Genius level marketing gave him a huge multipler on this bet…” said Twitch partner Suarez, while CryptoFaceless said: “He did that on purpose lol.” Another account called The Alpha Factory deemed it “genius,” adding: “He knew people was going to doubt him and he capitalized on it.”

Whatever the case, Garcia walked home with far more than the reported $30m purse.