Devin Haney lost more than his undefeated streak on Saturday.
Haney was lucky to retain his WBC super lightweight title as his opponent Ryan Garcia missed the weigh-in in the bout, but during a crucial exchange in the 12-round bout, Haney was hit with a power punch from Garcia. He suffered a demoralizing majority decision loss. Haney officially went down three times in the middle, dropping his professional record to 31-1.
Haney is consistently ranked in the top 10 of pound-for-pound rankings on most major boxing sites (including The Ring and ESPN), but a disappointing performance has pushed him up the rankings and his reputation has suffered. There is a high possibility of getting hurt. A heavy favorite.
Analyst and former boxing champion Paulie Malignaggi believes fans were able to properly assess Haney’s talent in the loss.
“Devin Haney is back to square one,” Malignaggi said on his YouTube channel. “He’s still a good fighter, but he wasn’t a pound-for-pound fighter. I think this exposed him. He has no coordination.”
At the start of the fight, Garcia aggressively looked for a finish, but Haney weathered the storm and fought back to take the early rounds. However, Haney was reminded of the strength of Garcia, who was knocked down in the seventh round and went into survival mode. Garcia went on to score knockdowns in rounds 10 and 11.
Malignaggi expected Garcia to have a power advantage, but was surprised by Haney’s inability to adapt to Garcia’s approach.
“I’ve seen some people who were willing to give Ryan a chance, but seriously, not just because of his antics, but because of his incompetence, which has never shown me a different dimension. I couldn’t take it,” Malignaggi said. “I’m really not sure he showed those different dimensions in this game. It was more important to expose Devin Haney than it was to show Ryan Garcia anything else.
“Garcia’s left hook was still his mainstay. His left hook was always dangerous, and we always knew that. He really set Haney up in a creative way unlike anyone else. I don’t know. He fights in spots, fights at 160 miles per hour, or fights really, really quietly, and the big spots are the big spots, and he eventually takes over.”
Malignaggi went on to analyze Haney’s resume, saying that aside from a quality win over Vasily Lomachenko, he has mostly defeated fighters in their past primes or overrated fighters. In particular, Malignaggi noted that back-to-back fights with George Kambosos Jr. played a big role in Haney’s eligibility being blown out of proportion.
Now that Haney is no longer among the undefeated, Malignaggi wonders if critics will view him differently.
“The light work that Haney actually did that was worth it was Kambosos, who was famous for one win but hasn’t been very good since then,” Malignaggi said. “We have to start re-evaluating Haney. …Haney worked really hard last night. He lacked power and versatility. I’ll tell you, my jab was better than Haney’s, That’s for sure, because Haney’s jab should have gone into overtime, and if he wasn’t so square, he wouldn’t have gotten as many hooks. I don’t know what he’s doing.
“That’s another thing you can’t compare Haney and Floyd Mayweather. I remember some of Team Haney and Haney’s ‘D Riders’ jumping on Haney about how he could be the next Mayweather. ing. There’s only one Mayweather. ”
