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Ryan Garcia Upsets Devin Haney By Decision After Missing Weight For WBC Title Fight

Alex Ballentine

Sound the upset alarms. Ryan Garcia stunned rival Devin Haney with a majority decision win in a massive super lightweight matchup with the WBC champion at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Garcia was a considerable underdog coming into the fight. But it didn't take long for him to show he was a live dog early in the fight.

He stung Haney with a left hook in the first round, causing his opponent and those following the fight live to sit up and take notice.

Haney didn't let Garcia's first-round success keep him down, though. He popped right back in the second round with some adjustments. The champion threw Garcia off his rhythm with his jab and started to find a home for his right hand.

By the fourth round, Garcia's volume had tapered off and Haney started to cruise. He put Garcia on his back foot and started to take command of the scorecards.

Just when it seemed like Haney was on cruise control in the seventh, things got really interesting quickly.

Garcia landed another clean left hook that floored Haney for the first time in his career. Haney was able to beat the count but was in clear trouble. He went down a few more times but the referee declared them slips. He also took a point away from Garcia for hitting on the break.

The back and forth continued down the home stretch. Haney recovered from the lopsided Round 7 to make a good case to win Round 9, but Garcia once again caught him in the 10th and put him on the canvas.

Garcia put him down for the third time in the 11th:

Garcia couldn't get the stoppage in the final round but it was clear that he had done the most damage and that ultimately helped him pull off the shocking upset.

This is easily the biggest win of Garcia's career, but it comes with a frustrating caveat. He won't come away with his first world title because he couldn't make the 140-pound limit on Friday. He missed weight by just over three pounds.

Instead, the two sides had to reach a new financial agreement that saved the fight. Garcia was forced to pay out extra money to his rival and Haney's championship belt was no longer on the line.

Garcia has recently been in the news for some erratic behavior ahead of the fight. His social media presence has been turbulent to say the least. On two occasions he vowed that he would only be promoting the fight on his social media accounts only to get off topic once again.

Regardless, Garcia was able to put those concerns aside for long enough to best Haney.

While he still isn't a world champion, he proved he can beat one. Garcia doesn't lack for confidence and actually already called out another opponent before this fight, letting the public know he'd like to go up another weight class to fight Sebastian Fundora.

Given his miscue at the scale, moving up might not be a bad idea. However, getting down to 140 pounds to actually take Haney's belt in a rematch just became a lot more interesting.

   

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