Ryan Garcia, despite being a massive underdog, won a majority decision against Devin Haney, handing Haney his first professional loss with a performance that included three knockdowns.
Well, well, well. Ryan Garcia, huh? Might’ve just pulled off the biggest troll job in combat sports history.
Leading up to his fight with Devin Haney, the guy was acting all sorts of strange. He’s a 25-year-old from Cali and was the underdog on Saturday night. Everyone thought he’d get his butt kicked.
But boy, did he surprise us all.
Garcia knocked Haney down three times. Brutal. Ended up winning a majority decision. Haney’s first loss ever. Ouch.
The final scores? 115-109, 114-110, and 112-112. Garcia got the nod. Biggest victory of his career.
After the fight, Garcia was all, “Who’s laughing now?”
“Come on, guys, you really thought I was crazy?” He shouted. “My left hook is my left hook. That’s blessed by God. Whenever I land it, it can put you out or down. You guys hate on me because I’m pretty and s***. That’s f****** up. The truth is in front of you.”
There were times Garcia seemed to be sleepwalking. But when he woke up and went for it, Haney had no answer.
Garcia promised a fast start. He delivered. Threw bombs, landed a huge left hook. Haney was rocked.
Haney got his composure back, reset. Garcia calmed down after the adrenaline dump. Replays showed Haney’s eyes rolling back after that first punch. But he didn’t go down.
Haney wasn’t scared, though. He moved forward, established a slick lead jab. Made Garcia miss with wild haymakers. Even wobbled Garcia with a stiff left hand. The crowd went wild.
As time passed, Haney took control. Garcia seemed content to just circle away. He was always a step behind Haney.
But then, Garcia opened the sixth with another barrage of shots. Haney was hurt, but he recovered.
The momentum shifted again at the start of the seventh. Garcia unleashed another series of punches. Haney went down for the first time in his career.
A few moments later, Garcia threw a punch as the action was paused. The ref deducted a point. That negated the knockdown that would have given Garcia a guaranteed 10-8 round.
Despite the point deduction, Garcia knew that knockdown changed everything.
“I just knew I had control after that,” Garcia said. “It’s hard to recover from big shots.”
Even when Haney started to outpoint Garcia, the power from Garcia was the difference. He dropped Haney again in the 10th round.
Haney got back up, but Garcia blasted him with another huge left hook in the 11th. Garcia began celebrating. Haney struggled to survive.
By the end of the fight, Garcia was taunting Haney. The crowd loved it. Haney’s worst nightmare came true.
“I’m disappointed with my performance,” Haney said. “He caught me early when I was sleeping on it. I fell asleep on the left hook. I fell asleep and he caught me with it. I thought it was a close fight still.”
Garcia was happy with the win. But he missed weight by three pounds. Couldn’t win the title. Haney was undefeated before this. They might fight again soon.
“Yeah, let’s run it back,” Garcia said.
Haney seemed ready to accept the challenge.
“I would love to rematch,” Haney said. “He didn’t make weight so I’m still the champion. We can run it back.”