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Apparently, Ryan Garcia pulled off the biggest heist in recent memory. Garcia outclassed Devin Haney on Saturday night to the tune of three knockdowns en route to the biggest win of his burgeoning career.
Garcia spent most of his training camp posting on social media with conspiracy theories and more unsettling content that had many more concerned about his well being than his chances of winning a fight against a former undisputed champion who ranked among the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport. Plus, Garcia missed weight by more than three pounds on Friday, leading to even more speculation that he wasn’t taking the fight seriously.
Instead, Garcia exploded through Haney with his left hook. He wobbled Haney in the first round before scoring his first knockdown in the seventh. Garcia then scored knockdowns in the 10th and 11th rounds and nearly had Haney out on his feet. He managed to take a majority decision for his efforts, though he won’t walk away with a title because of the weight miss.
“He caught me early when I was sleeping on him,” Haney said after the fight. “He caught me by surprise. I fell asleep on the left hook. We trained for it, but I got in there and I fell asleep and he caught me with it. I was more surprised than hurt, I wasn’t really that hurt.”
The undercard on Saturday was lacking for thrills. Arnold Barboza Jr. struggled to a split decision win over Sean McComb in the co-feature. Many pundits on social media believed that McComb had done plenty to win the bout. Meanwhile, Bektemir Melikuziev picked up a technical decision over Pierre Dibombe after a gigantic cut was opened on Melikuziev’s left eye lid. The fight was stopped in the eighth round for safety reasons, leading to the technical decision. And David Jimenez outboxed John Ramirez to earn a unanimous decision and the WBA interim flyweight title.
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