Ryan Garcia came out victorious against Devin Haney on April 20 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The pair squared off in the main event bout live on pay-per-view.
The scheduled for 12 rounds contest went the full distance. The LA-based contender defeated San Francisco’s former undisputed lightweight champion by majority decision, three times sending him to the canvas along the way.
Haney went down in the seventh, 10th and 11th rounds. In the seventh round Garcia was deducted a point for hitting on the break. In the end, one judge scored the fight 112-112, while two other judges gave 114-110 and 115-109 to “King Ry”.
Garcia was initially expected to challenge Haney for his WBC 140-pound belt, but missed weight by 3.2 lbs and was ineligible to lift the title. With the victory, the 25-year-old once-beaten contender of Victorville, California improved to 25-1, 20 KOs and secured his second win in a row.
“My left hook is my left hook, you understand what I’m saying,” Garcia said post-fight. “That’s blessed by God. so whenever I land it, it can’t put you out or down.”
“You guys overate everything you, guys hate on me cuz I’m pretty and man that’s f**ed up. At the end of the day, I’ve been boxing my whole life and all I do is love God and try to help the children and you got straight hated on me. You guys do not love the truth. The truth is in front of you. I try to I put my f****ing reputation on the line for all the kids in the world, and everybody’s f***ing staying quiet, but me.”
“I just knew I had control after that [knockdown], it’s hard to recover from big shots. And you know, maybe my conditioning wasn’t my best, but you know at the end of the day I got the job done.”
When asked whether he would face Haney in a rematch, Garcia said: “Yeah, let’s run it back.”
Davin Haney: It’s only right he give me a shot back
Devin Haney would be able to retain his belt and make the first successful defense in case of his victory. With the defeat, the Bay Area 25-year-old dropped to 31-1, 15 KOs and recorded his first career loss.
“I’m disappointed with my performance,” Haney said. “But I sure that I was a true champion and that I could fight with after being knocked down and being hurt.”
“I was more surprised than hurt. The first time I wasn’t really that hurt, I was more surprised. like I said he went in there he jumped on me, just like he knew he would, but I was just sleeping.”
“Of course,” Haney said when asked about the rematch. “I thought it was a close fight still. 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, so I’m still I’m still the champion and we can run it back.”
Get Haney vs Garcia full fight card results.