Garcia drops Haney three times with big left hooks in upset decision

Scores huge victory despite all the chaos, badly missing weight and a post-fight admission of heavy drinking during lead up to bout

Dan Rafael

Apr 21, 2024

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Throughout the tumultuous buildup to Ryan Garcia’s fight with Devin Haney, he was engulfed in chaos so much so that many questioned whether he should even be in the ring because of his unhinged behavior and accusations from Haney that he was doing drugs and drinking.

The New York State Athletic Commission even did something unprecedented in asking Garcia, who has been outspoken about his mental health issues that caused him to take a sabbatical from the sport in 2021, to undergo a pre-fight mental health evaluation.

And then Garcia, who downed a bottle of beer on the scale at the ceremonial weigh-in, badly missed weight a few hours earlier, weighing 143.2 pounds, 3.2 over the junior welterweight limit and making him ineligible to challenge for Haney’s WBC title.

In the end, none of it mattered as Garcia, thanks to his electric left hook, scored three knockdowns and won a majority decision for a major upset in the Golden Boy Promotions DAZN PPV headliner on Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Garcia, who was penalized a point for hitting on the break in the seventh round, won 115-109 and 114-110 while one judge had it 112-112. It was a career-best victory for one of boxing’s most popular fighters but he could not claim the title. Despite the loss, because Haney faced an overweight opponent, he will not lose the belt, according to the sanctioning body.

Regardless of all of that, Haney and Garcia turned in an exciting and dramatic fight of the year contender before an announced crowd of 14,601 that settled their personal score.

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The fight was billed as “This One Counts” because they split six amateur fights but the pro showdown was far more significant and on a world stage.

“I fought him six times. I knew what he could do,” Garcia said. “I just want to thank my team, man. I put them through hell in this camp. I gotta give them credit.”

Haney, his face swollen, didn’t make excuses after the fight.

“I'm disappointed in my performance, but I showed I’m a true champion,” Haney said. “I can fight after being knocked down and being hurt.”

Garcia said he pulled the upset despite drinking during fight week, a shocking admission for any fighter.

“I walked through the fire, still held it down, still fuckin’ beat Devin Haney, and still drank every day and still beat him,” Garcia said. “I did everything. Drank every single night. Went out on Monday and Tuesday and drank and drank. What happened? I won. Not necessarily am I proud of it. I do whatever I want and I still win.

“I was just having fun. I’m going through a lot. I went through a (recent) divorce. A lot of shit has been happening to me. I do what I needed to do to feel OK. So I drank every day and did whatever I wanted. I’m not proud of it all. I just pray for my (three) kids and hopefully they’re OK and I hope I made them proud. I’m far from perfect.”

‘I did everything. Drank every single night. Went out on Monday and Tuesday and drank and drank,’ — Ryan Garcia

Garcia got his left hook going very early when he hammered Haney with one in the opening seconds of the bout and his eyes rolled up into his head. It was surprising that Haney did not go down from the punch.

“My left hook is my left hook. You understand what I'm saying? That left hook is blessed by God, so whenever I land it, it can put you out or down,” Garcia said. “I just knew I had control after that. It's hard to recover from big shots. Maybe, my conditioning wasn’t my best, but at the end of the day I got the job done.”

Haney, of course, was aware of Garcia’s hook but never saw the one that hurt him in the first round coming.

“Yeah, he caught me early when I was sleeping on it,” Haney said. “He caught me by surprise. I fell asleep on the left hook. We trained for it. I got in there and I fell asleep and he caught me with it.”

Garcia gave Haney credit for the toughness he showed.

“I’m surprised he had such good heart and recovery,” Garcia said. “I cracked him in that first round and I thought it was over. ‘I won. Easy work.’ And then he came out firing in the second and he even hurt me with a hook and I was like, ‘Damn, maybe he do have a little power.’”

Haney (31-1, 15 KOs), 25, of Las Vegas, the former undisputed lightweight champion, who was supposed to be making his first junior welterweight title defense, overcame the early adversity and began to land overhand rights and lefts, which knocked Garcia back twice in the third round.

Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs), 25, of Los Angeles, opened the sixth round with a strong flurry that made Haney grab onto him.

Then came the wild seventh round when Garcia landed a clean left hook to the chin and dropped Haney to his backside for the first knockdown.

“I was more surprised than hurt,” Haney said. “The first time I wasn’t really that hurt.”

Garcia said thought he was about to end the fight.

“Is this gonna be the moment that I stop him,” Garcia said, recalling what he was thinking. “I shouldn’t have put so much pressure on myself to stop him because every time I hurt him I went crazy and I couldn’t finish him.”

There was still half of the seventh round to go and Haney grabbed onto Garcia. As referee Harvey Dock ordered them to break, Haney stepped back but Garcia fired a right hand, which caused Dock to immediately dock him a point for the foul. The brief break also gave Haney a few extra seconds of recovery time and turned a 10-8 round for Garcia into a 9-8 round.

Haney’s legs were rubbery and he went down again later in the round, but Dock ruled it a slip.

“The guy was holding me for dear life and I was swinging when my hands were free and I cracked him and (Dock) took a point away. But he held me,” Garcia said. “I should have knocked him out in that seventh round. They stole that from me.”

They brawled during the ninth round and when they were in close, Haney got off a series of right hands to Garcia’s body.

In what was clearly a close fight, Garcia asserted himself in the 10th round when he landed a right hand followed by another sizzling left hook early on to floor Haney for the second time.

Garcia was all over Haney, who somehow managed to survive the rest of the round despite being in terrible trouble and on wobbly legs.

Haney also made it out of the 11th round despite being dropped to his rear end by yet another powerful left hook with a minute left. Haney was in rough shape and Garcia motioned to Dock to stop the fight.

“Harvey Dock, I think he was tripping,” Garcia said. “He shoulda stopped that fight. It was bad. He was really hurt. I felt bad. I even looked at Bill (Haney, Devin’s father and trainer) in the 11th round and said, ‘I think you should stop this.’ But he didn’t and that’s it.”

In the 12th round, Garcia fought like had he had the fight won because he taunted Haney by sticking his tongue out at him to close out the enthralling fight.

According to CompuBox statistics, Garcia landed 106 of 285 punches (37 percent), including 95 of 231 power shots (41 percent) and Haney landed 87 of 214 (41 percent), but only 45 129 power shots (35 percent).

In the ring, both fighters claimed interest in a rematch.

“It was a close fight,” Haney said. “I would love to rematch. I gave him a shot. It’s only right he give me a shot back. He didn’t make weight. I’m still the champion. We can run it back.”

Garcia’s view on the rematch was, “Yeah, let's run it back.”

But at his post-fight news conference he it wasn’t top of mind and he said he was moving up in weight.

“I’m going to 147. I can’t make 140. I never fought at 140. I fought at 143,” Garcia said. “My body can’t go lower than 143. It’s impossible.”

He said he was interested in going to up to junior middleweight.

“I had a vision to fight (unified titleholder Sebastian) Fundora at 154,” Garcia said. “I don’t know, I just feel like I could knock him out. I know that’s really, really random but I just feel like I could get a title at 154. Shout out Fundora though. No disrespect.”

Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya, Garcia’s promoter, said that whatever is next, it will be on Garcia’s terms.

“Ryan is gonna rest. Had a great win. Let him enjoy it. And guess what? Ryan’s calling all the shots now,” the smiling De La Hoya said. “That’s the fact. He wants to fight at ’47? He wants to fight at a catch weight? But guess what? If anybody wants to make money they have to fight Ryan, and guess what? He’s gonna call all the shots. That’s it. And guess what? He’s gonna give an exciting fight every single time.”

Garcia, with the chaos on hold for the moment, reflected on his tremendous win and also looked ahead to what figures to be an even more lucrative future than his recent past.

“What’s next? I already knew I could beat (Haney). I was supremely confident,” Garcia said. “Am I happy? Of course. What’s next? Who’s next? Let’s go.”