Ryan Garcia pulled off a big surprise in New York on Saturday night, dropping previously unbeaten Devin Haney three times, defeating him by a 12-round majority decision at the Barclays Center.
Garcia’s Power Dominates the Fight
I had never seen the previously unbeaten Haney hurt as many times as he was tonight. He had to get up off the canvas three times [four if you count the two in the seventh] and was fighting with blood coming out of his mouth from what could be a jaw injury.
Haney is now 31-1, 15 KOs), but he needs to decide if he wants to fight Ryan again. Ryan said after the fight that he’ll give Haney a rematch, but it might be wise for Haney to take some time off to recover. If he rushes into an immediate rematch, he could get knocked out by Ryan.
Pre-fight Predictions Proven Wrong
Kingry silenced his critics tonight with his performance, which showed that he’s not an Instagram boxer like many fans had said.
Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs) had WBC light welterweight champion Haney (31-1, 15 KOs) hurt in the first round from a left hook.
Haney didn’t look like he ever fully recovered from that shot, because he was wobbled with each shot Ryan hit him cleanly with for the remainder of the fight.
The judges scored 112-112, 114-110, and 115-109 for Garcia.
What made the fight more meaningful for Ryan was how many fans dismissed him due to his pre-fight antics. They felt he was crazy and needed to be hospitalized.
Haney’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, had predicted that Ryan might jump out of the ring, stay in the dressing room, or quit on his stool. We heard all those dire predictions, and none of them came true.
From the first round, Ryan had the crowd eating out of his hand with his power display with him hurting Haney with a left hook.
The fans may have come into the contest looking to support the champion Haney, but Ryan’s power game and pressure style won over the crowd.
They had no complaints about Ryan’s performance, and neither did I. He made it exciting. Haney was doing a lot of holding, which the fans didn’t appreciate.
The referee Harvey Dock had a bad night in the office, blowing a knockdown call in the seventh, and letting Haney get away with a lot of holding.
Post-Fight Reflections
“I just knew I had control after that. It’s hard to recover from big shots,” said Ryan Garcia when asked at the post-fight interview about his first knockdown of Devin Haney in the seventh round.
“Maybe my conditioning wasn’t the best, but I got the job done. I’ve been boxing my whole life. I’ve fought him six times. I knew what I could do. Yeah, let’s run it back,” said Ryan Garcia when asked if he’d like to fight Haney again.
