Make of it what you will, but Ryan Garcia intentionally did not try to make the weight anymore after failing during the weigh-in so he could come in bigger and stronger against Devin Haney.
In the process he ceded a whopping $1.5 million to his rival, but hey, he claims it was all worth it.
GARCIA. Prior to the fight, Garcia had many people worried about his strange, and erratic behavior on social media. Many worried that his head was not in the right place and that he was better off cancelling the fight; otherwise, he would get badly hurt. But during the fight, Garcia exhibited enough mental clarity to knock down Devin Haney four times en route to a unanimous decision victory.
HANEY. Coming into the fight, Devin Haney was pegged as the prohibitive favorite, owing to the fact that he had faced off and defeated superior opposition, and was undefeated after all. Garcia’s bizarre behavior online only added to Haney’s perceived superiority.
Haney was his usual self in the first round, popping out that sharp jab, but a check left hook from the bigger Garcia stopped him in his tracks momentarily, eliciting a roar from the crowd. Haney was able to recover but that hook was a harbinger of how things would turn out in the second half of the fight.
Haney was able to score with some big shots through rounds two to five while Garcia kept things competitive by landing an occasional eye-catching shot that wowed the crowd.
Things took a turn in Garcia’s favor in the seventh round when he landed a huge left hook that knocked down Haney. Though he was able to beat the count, Haney was obviously hurt. Garcia tried to follow up with huge barrages and in his earnestness was warned for hitting on the break.
I thought Haney was lucky that the ref didn’t rule more knockdowns during the round as he often fell during exchanges, as obviously his legs were shot and he was still trying to recover.
Garcia would go on to hurt Haney even more and scored knockdowns in the 10th and 11th rounds.
Credit his conditioning for Haney’s recuperative powers as he was able to finish the fight on his feet. A lesser mortal would already have succumbed to that hellacious beating.
GAMBLE. It seemed like Garcia was able to pull off this victory by reading his cards right. Unable to make the weight, he decided not to weaken himself by trying lose more weight. Instead, he chugged a beer when he weighed in again, signaling that didn’t care much about the money and that he cared more about winning the fight.
His gamble paid off as he was obviously the bigger, stronger fighter in there, but even with the victory, he didn’t walk away with the title because he missed the weight.
Well, you win some you lose some for Ryan Garcia. And that is how you lose $1.5 million so that you can get an advantage come fight time.
LAST ROUND. It’s on my UP Latagaw brod, my favorite Cebu City Councilor, Hon. Joel “Panday” Garganera who celebrated his birthday yesterday. Cheers tol!