Ryan Garcia shocks boxing world, defeats Devin Haney after months of worrying antics

Ryan Garcia has spent the last three months leaving analysts and experts far more concerned with his personal well-being than impressed with his boxing prowess.

With a handful of explosive left hooks, he reminded the boxing world why he is “King Ryan,” defeating WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney by majority decision Saturday night in what may have already concluded the discussion about the best fight of 2024.

“Come on everyone, did you really think I was crazy?” Garcia shouted after the victory.

Sweet chin music 🎶

Here are the 3 falls. @RyanGarcia delivered to @realdevinhaney to ensure victory.#HaneyGarcía pic.twitter.com/18obAwynEE

– DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) April 21, 2024

Haney entered the night as the heavy favorite, the king of multiple weight classes and an unbroken record. He emerged from the night with a jagged legacy.

Garcia’s readiness was immediately demonstrated in the first minute of the first round, when he rocked Haney with a pair of explosive left hooks to wake up the crowd. He won the first round with ease, landing nine powerful blows.

From there, Haney took advantage with an adjustment to pick up the pace and keep the pressure on Garcia. Haney’s strong punches kept Garcia on him and it looked like the champion was on his way to a direct defense against the enigmatic powerhouse.

And then came the seventh round.

With a similar explosion in the first round that he showed in the first, Garcia’s power connected thunderously, this time surprising the crowd by dropping Haney with an uppercut, giving Haney the first knockdown of his career. A stunned Haney beat the count, but was pinned again and again as Garcia unleashed the power that propelled him to prominence.

But the round became wildly chaotic soon after, when Garcia was deducted a point for hitting on a break while Haney’s legs wobbled like jelly. After facing months of concerns about his mental well-being, a mid-fight mental lapse threatened to derail his momentum.

Garcia bided his time in the eighth and ninth rounds before demonstrating in the tenth that his bursts were much more than adrenaline rushes. “King Ryan” floored Haney again, tilting the fight completely in his favor and making an impossibility suddenly seem realistic.

If that wasn’t enough, Garcia broke a cherry on top in the eleventh round with a third knockdown, drilling Haney with another left hook that sent the champion back to the canvas and sent the Barclays Center into chaos.

As Haney rose to his feet and beat the count for the third time, the night was clearly over for the stunned champion, and Garcia closed the conclusive 12th round by jumping over the corner ropes to the praise of a bewildered crowd after the fight. . of his life.

FEAR OF THE KING pic.twitter.com/pogoQxoxXb

— RYAN GARCIA (@RyanGarcia) April 21, 2024

“I would love to have a rematch, I gave it a chance and I’ll do it again,” Haney said after the loss.

After weighing 3.2 pounds over the couple’s agreed upon limit of 140 pounds, Garcia was ineligible to win Haney’s super lightweight title, but that strap may be the only piece of dignity Haney left Brooklyn with.

Garcia entered the night simply with the opportunity for a punch, which was a far cry from his days of using his explosive style to become a household name just a few years earlier.

The social media sensation looked like the real deal in the ring when he outpointed Luke Campbell to win the interim WBC lightweight title in 2021 and had the potential to become the future face of the sport in the post-Mayweather era, but then he saw that exaggeration. He will be eliminated after losing his undefeated record in a superfight with phenom Gervonta “Tank” Davis in February 2023.

In that fight, Garcia was knocked down for the first time in the second round, then Davis knocked him down again in the seventh round with a brutal body shot. Garcia failed to beat the count of 10, resulting in the first loss of his career, and was later criticized for quitting as he stood up shortly after the bell rang.

He then faced Oscar Duarte in September and initially struggled with the inferior fighter, and was booed by the Houston crowd before bouncing back with an eighth-round knockout. After fighting at 140 pounds in 2022, Garcia fell to Davis after accepting a 136-pound catchweight, then struggled to beat Duarte, a career 135-pounder, at 143 pounds.

Those stops caused Garcia a lot more problems against Haney. On Friday night, Garcia weighed in at 143.2 and opted to reach a revised deal to keep the fight rather than try to lose the extra weight. Under the revised agreement, Garcia forfeited $600,000 of his purse and was ineligible to win the super lightweight title.

In a show of boisterous indifference, Garcia later Friday attended the ceremonial weigh-in drinking a beer and yelling at Haney in the midst of a heated confrontation.

On Thursday, Haney predicted that Garcia would not make the weight and asked him to pay him $500,000 per pound lost. A statement from Golden Boy Promotions on Friday said Garcia “will honor the handshake made yesterday at the final press conference.”

But Friday night’s debacle was no surprise to anyone who followed Garcia’s social media posts leading up to this fight, which makes Saturday night’s outcome even more baffling.

In recent months, Garcia claimed he was kidnapped by the Illuminati, accused Logan Paul of worshiping Satan, dismissed accusations about Haney’s father, said he was under spiritual attack, said he has proof of extraterrestrial existence, and called out Elon Musk. the Antichrist, among other things. a series of other disturbing claims and accusations online and in podcast appearances.

García also announced the birth of his second child and his divorce from his wife on the same day in January. In March, Garcia accused Haney of using banned substances; he said he was going to bite his ears off. then he tweeted“My intention is to kill Devil Haney.”

All that antics wrapped up his and Haney’s rise in boxing in the buildup to Saturday night.

With the loss, Haney is 32-1 and his case to be considered among the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world alongside the likes of Terence Crawford and Canelo Alvarez is crushed.

In 2022, Haney defeated George Kambosos Jr. in a lightweight title unification fight to become the first undisputed lightweight champion since Pernell Whitaker in 1990, and the first in the four-belt era. In December, Haney moved up to super lightweight to fight champion Regis Prograis, whom Haney dominated with a masterful performance to become two-division champion.

Before Saturday night’s upset, a rematch between Haney and Vasiliy Lomachenko, whom Haney defeated in a thrilling fight last May to defend his lightweight title, was thought to be in the champion’s future, as that many questioned Haney’s unanimous decision victory.

But now, a rematch fight with Garcia should be Haney’s next task as he tries to get his career back on track. Saturday night’s loss revealed many holes in Haney’s game and left the champion with serious doubts about the strength of his chin and the legitimacy of his previously unblemished record.

In the hours after his victory, Garcia returned to social media, arguing that the referee should have stopped the fight in the seventh round and clowning Haney for losing to him.

“I know people are very angry,” García posted on X with a couple of crying emojis. “Imagine, imagine a guy who trolls non-stop, beats a p4p fighter and then becomes creepy, bro, that’s so funny, Muhhahahahahaha.”

In the co-main event, underdog Sean McComb was seemingly robbed by the judges when he lost a split decision to Arnold Barboza Jr., who remained undefeated. McComb seemed to dictate the pace of the fight with his slippery defense and untargetable length, as he outmaneuvered Barboza, according to broadcast statistics.

Barboza gathered enough momentum in the final frames to pull out the win, but he carried the history of the fight on his bruised face. The first scorecard announced said 98-92 for McComb, but the next scorecard surprisingly said 97-93 for Barboza. The final card gave Barboza the advantage and the fight with a score of 96-94, but there was not even a hint of celebration from the favorite.

In the post-fight interview, Barboza said he was not surprised by the results, but the crowd voiced their dissenting opinion with a chorus of boos.

Barboza entered the night billed as the replacement fighter in the main event if Garcia didn’t show up and with one eye on a future main event fight with Shakur Stevenson. Barboza may have emerged with his perfect record intact, but also with a bruised cheek and a tarnished reputation.

Required reading

(Photo: Al Bello/Getty Images)