This is a bit of a response that I wrote elsewhere to the question of whether Devin Haney could beat Ryan Garcia in a rematch of their recent main event clash at 140 lbs.
That said, while I think Haney could win a rematch, I would not bet on it with any degree of confidence. Yes I felt Haney won the majority of rounds in the first half of the fight. I think he had an argument to have won round 8 and 9 after hitting the canvas in round 7 and almost getting TKO'd, could reasonably have been stopped and I don't think many would argue with it.
While he won plenty of rounds he never really looked in control of the fight. I think he averaged around 18 punches thrown per round which is nothing and the rounds he won were mostly from Garcia being shut down and struggling to land his left hook. Haney seemed to hurt Garcia once but never could replicate it and was mostly limited to one punch at a time or short inside punches that did not do much damage. After six rounds I had the fight 58-56 giving Garcia round 1 and one more round cant remember if it was 5 or 6.
The fight changed drastically in round 7 when Garcia began to land the right hand regularly and that allowed the left hook to follow behind it. Garcia for 6 rounds seemed mostly like a one trick pony with the left hook. At the end of round 5 or 6, the round I scored for him, he landed a few good rights that I thought carried it. By landing the right he was able to back Haney up and this set up the hook which turned the fight around.
My immediate opinion is that Garcia took a little while to get the opening but once he found the weakness he exploited it. Maybe Haney could sharpen his defense and work on avoiding the right hand and left hook but I think Garcia's height, reach, and speed make that easier said than done. At the same time, Haney was not able to do enough offensively to deter Garcia from exploiting his advantage. Even the rounds Haney won, he never looked terribly comfortable or in control. Even when Garcia was on his bike running around the ring, Haney could not do much offensively. Even when Garcia turned his back Haney could not do anything meaningful despite having an open opponent.
I am not doom and glooming on Haney who I still think has a bright future in boxing depending on how he rebounds from this humbling loss. He took it like a man and showed lots of heart going 12 when he seemed done at various times in round 7 and after.
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