Ryan Garcia’s talent overcame the discipline of Devin Haney last Saturday night, allowing the underdog to defeat the WBC light welterweight champion by a 12 round majority decision at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The hand speed and power of Ryan (25-1, 20 KOs) gave Haney (31-1, 15 KOs) fits down the stretch of their headliner on DAZN PPV.
Boxing expert Chris Algieri says Haney fought well in the first half of the fight when Ryan wasn’t throwing a lot of shots. Ryan seemed familiar with Haney’s fighting style from their six fights in the amateur ranks, and he got more relaxed as the fight wore on, perhaps remembering his past fights with him and knowing how to beat him.
Down the stretch in the last five rounds, Ryan looked fearless and outworked Haney with punches that had a lot of steam on them. Haney couldn’t contend with Ryan’s speed or power, who resembled a junior middleweight inside the ring.
Devin had been accustomed to fighting smaller guys throughout his career and didn’t know how to contend with the mix of physical tools Ryan had going for him.
“Talent vs. Discipline”
“Ryan is a super-talented guy. This was talent vs. discipline. The discipline of Devin Haney showed that he was able to survive. The kid has a dog in him, but Ryan is super talented. The guy can really punch,” said boxing expert Chris Algieri to the Sean Zittel YouTube channel, reacting to Ryan Garcia’s win over Devin Haney last Saturday night.
Haney didn’t box Ryan like he’d done his previous opponent, WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis, last December. Against Prograis, Haney had fought a lot like Shakur Stevenson, hitting and retreating to avoid getting countered. Against Ryan, Haney mixed it up more and held a lot.
“He [Ryan] really showed the power is real. He has really fast hands. He fought really poise tonight. I was really impressed by that. Listen, man, we’re wrong. I’m happy because it’s good for boxing. It was an awesome fight and it was a lot of fun,” said Algieri.
“He poured it on late in the fight”
“He poured it on late in the fight,” Algieri said about Ryan. “He didn’t throw a lot of punches early on, but in the end, he was the guy throwing the more punches in the last couple of rounds. I don’t know if we’re going to see Ryan at 140 ever again. He looked like a 154-pounder.”
After Ryan hurt Haney in the seventh, he was like a steam train from that point on and was in attack mode. The only reason Ryan slowed down at times was because of his stamina giving out on him.
“I think there’s a lot of good fights for him at 147, and he’s big enough. He’s 5’10 1/2”, said Algieri. “He obviously has the power and the hand speed; he was not affected by the weight. He was obviously heavier and his hands were still quick,” said Algieri about Ryan Garcia.
Ryan said he can’t go lower than 143 lbs from now on, which means he’ll fight at catchweights or at the full weight for the welterweight division at 147.
Promoter Eddie Hearn wants him to fight his new signee, IBF 147-lb champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, but that doesn’t sound like a good idea. Golden Boy Promotions and Ryan’s dad, Henry Garcia, will likely try and talk him out of that idea.
