Ryan Garcia upsets Devin Haney with three knockdowns.

NEW YORK Before his fight with Devin Haney, there were doubts about Ryan Garcia's fitness to fight; this was a contentious promotion that was accentuated by Garcia's volatile remarks.

As of Saturday night, Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs) was a significant underdog and was all but eliminated. At Brooklyn's Barclays Center, Garcia's blinding, powerful left hook reversed the tide as he scored three knockdowns to win by majority decision.

A judge gave the fight a score of 112-112, but Garcia's scores of 114-110 and 115-109 overturned that decision. However, Garcia weighed 143.2 pounds for the 140-pound fight on Friday, making him ineligible to win Haney's WBC junior welterweight belt. Despite losing, Haney is still the winner, yet it's Garcia who defeated the No. 6 pound-for-pound fighter on ESPN to record the biggest victory of his career.

It doesn't matter what people think of me. The 25-year-old Garcia declared, "I defeated the f---ing Devin Haney; I went through the fire, and I still drink every day." Not necessarily am I proud of that, but I'm just saying it was a statement to show you, you guys can't really f--- with me."
ESPN BET reports that earlier in the week, Haney was a -900 favorite; however, he closed at -575. According to sources who spoke to ESPN, Garcia paid Haney more than $600,000 to move forward with the fight in exchange for pretending to drink a beer during Friday's weigh-in.
Garcia had earlier in the day made a wager with Haney, promising to give him $500,000 for each pound that he measured higher than 140. Later, Haney claimed that Garcia had honored the wager, meaning that Garcia had given Haney a grand total of $1.5 million.
As a sign of things to come, Garcia was the one who made Haney pay by knocking down the champion with a vicious left hook in the first minute of the bout.

After a short time, Haney (31-1, 15 KOs) recovered and outboxed Garcia in the following four rounds. In Round 3, he even used a right hand to wobble Garcia when the latter was boxing from a rear foot and trying to get another counterleft hook that would end the fight.

Devin Haney was eliminated by Ryan Garcia in Round 7—the first time Haney has been knocked down once throughout his career; this time, it happened in Rounds 10 and 11 of Saturday's bout.

Though Garcia didn't capitalize, he found it in Round 7 when he felled Haney, the first time he had been knocked out in 32 professional fights. Referee Harvey Dock docked one point from Garcia for crushing Haney with his right hand only moments after the knockdown, which caused the fans to erupt in cheers.
The referee was awful, Garcia, a fighter from Southern California, claimed. I saw an opportunity to keep swinging while my hands were free, and I cracked [Haney], who was holding me for dear life." When I cracked him, he then took away a point, but [Haney] held me.

and in the seventh round, I ought to have finished him out.
That was taken from me by them. Devin continued to hold on without stopping. That was absurd. That was absurd. That is some s--- I have never seen."
Garcia lost what could have been a two-point edge. It made no difference. In Round 10, Garcia again stunned Haney with a powerful right hand—the same blow that had knocked Haney out in Round 6.
In the next round, Garcia delivered his money shot once more—a counterleft hook that rolled Haney's eyes and sent him flying to the canvas. He rose up again, his lips bleeding and his cheeks swelling severely.

Garcia attempted to win, but Haney managed to hold off in one of the most unexpected and exciting battles in recent memory and heard the final bell.

Punch Statistics

HANAY GARCIA PUNCHES

Total number of landings: 87,106
Total thrown: 214–285% 37% versus 41%
42–11 jabs landed, 85–54 jabs launched, as a percentage (20% < 50%).
45, 95, Power landed
Thrown Power: 129–231 Percent 35 percent to 41 percent

During his post-fight interview, Haney, 25, expressed his disappointment with his performance. I showed I was a true champion, and I could fight after being knocked down."
He caught me early when I was sleeping on him," he stated. "I was taken off guard by him. On the left hook, I dozed off. I provided it to him; therefore, it's only fair that he return the favor." Garcia frequently exposed his back with a shoulder roll, a move he promised never to do again following his unproductive usage of it in his December eighth-round knockout victory against Oscar Duarte. He countered over the top to negate Haney's superb jab, even if the defensive strategy failed to work this time.
Haney admitted to being uncertain at times throughout training camp if the fight with Garcia would actually take place, as he told ESPN on Thursday.
"We've arrived here. That's all that counts at that point, he stated." He's not doing normal things. Obviously, there's a problem with him. However, it is irrelevant what he does outside of the ring. What I'm going to do to him in the ring won't be affected.
Haney

Haney had good reason to feel certain. In May, he held onto his unchallenged lightweight title after a razor-thin unanimous decision against future Hall of Famer Vasiliy Lomachenko.
Haney, a fighter out of Las Vegas, then upped the weight to 140 pounds in preparation for a bout against Regis Prograis in December. In his junior welterweight debut, Haney defeated the champion via unanimous decision and went on to win a second division championship.
At 140 pounds, Haney was ranked #1 by ESPN going into the fight on Saturday. Garcia, on the other hand, was defeated by Gervonta Davis via seventh-round KO in his lone prior top fight, which took place in April 2023. Garcia was knocked out by a body shot.
However, a year later, Garcia demonstrated that he is a top-tier fighter who can defeat the greatest. Perhaps, paradoxically, Garcia benefited from all the turmoil surrounding the promotion.
Oscar De La Hoya, a boxer who is inducted into the Hall of Fame and who represents Garcia, stated to ESPN earlier this month that certain athletes require turmoil. "Some fighters are far more effective in chaotic environments. It practically makes reality invisible to you."
The New York State Athletic Commission made Garcia do a mental health assessment last week, which he passed. However, Garcia had previously expressed his belief that the ruling was unjust and that it demonstrated" him.

He was candid about his prior struggles with depression and anxiety. Garcia pulled out of a fight against Javier Fortuna in April 2021 in order to take care of his mental health.
I've taken a step back.

battle previously," Garcia stated a week ago. "I know when I actually have an issue, and I don't.
When Garcia and Haney were 11-year-old amateur athletes, their paths initially intersected.
Months before they both turned twelve, in May of 2012, they had their first in-ring encounter. Garcia prevailed in the Southern California amateur fight by unanimous decision. The last time they had battled before Saturday night was in January 2015. That three-round match ended similarly for Haney. At the time, they were sixteen.
Nine years later, Garcia ended the deadlock and prevailed in the one battle that mattered most to them.

 

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