Sevan Sinton
Associate News Editor
The long-anticipated clash between Ryan Garcia (25-1) and Devin Haney (31-1) resulted in +500 betting underdog Garcia shocking the boxing world by flooring Haney three times over 12 rounds.
Leading up to the fight, Garcia’s mental aptitude came into question by fans, where he had been on video displaying erratic behavior and even chugging a bottle of beer during his weigh-in. Haney weighed in at the agreed-upon 140-pound limit, whereas Garcia came in 3.2 pounds overweight, which resulted in a 1.5-million-dollar ($500,000 per pound) fine to Garcia going towards Haney’s purse.
On X, Garcia wrote “100 percent worth it” after missing weight. However, the weight miss made Garcia unable to win Haney’s WBC Super Lightweight championship.
Many wrote the fight off as a foregone conclusion. Combat sports analyst Luke Thomas said on his Morning Kombat show, “Devin Haney is going to tune Ryan Garcia up like a guitar.”
Garcia made everyone eat their words.
From the opening bell, Garcia’s signature check hook was on display, where 45 seconds into the first round, he wobbled Haney after countering a jab.
In the early rounds, Haney showed his technical ability, working jabs and short punches to the body while recovering from Garcia’s early onslaught. However, in round seven, Garcia found his mark and dropped Haney to the canvas with a left hook. Haney spent the rest of the fight grabbing and stalling in the clinch until he was dropped again in rounds 10 and 11.
The judges scored the contest a 112-112 draw, and 110-114, 109-115 both in favor of Garcia, resulting in a majority decision win for the Southern California prospect.