Ryan Garcia is on a collision course and rematch with rival Devin Haney and both are involved in a huge card in New York this weekend.
Garcia beat Haney last year but it was changed to a no contest after Garcia failed for trace amounts in a PEDs test.
Speaking to DAZN ahead of his fight on Friday with Rolly Romero, Garcia went back over the Devin Haney fight for them and boxing fans:
“I’m Ryan Garcia, and this is my breakdown of my fight with Devin Haney. Let’s go. The game plan was to prevent Devin Haney from finding a rhythm. We knew which side he leans to most of the time, so our strategy focused on catching him off guard. Haney is a rhythm fighter—he thrives on consistency—so we never let him settle. We used movement and varied the pace of my shots. Sometimes I threw fast, sometimes slow, keeping him off balance. It worked perfectly. Devin couldn’t find his rhythm or land consistent shots, which helped me win.
Within the first 30 seconds, I caught Haney with a counter left hook. We were sizing each other up, and I noticed he was leaning too far with his jab, exposing himself. I timed it and aimed for the knockout. That moment set the tone, putting Haney in a defensive mindset. He had to worry about my hook, disrupting his game plan. I kept beating him down, and honestly, I give him credit—he took a lot of shots I didn’t think he could handle.
I stayed on the move, using my shoulder roll. People talk about it, but I didn’t get hit cleanly. It may not look pretty, but I’m hitting without getting hit—that’s the key to boxing. Against Oscar Duarte, my movement was around 50%, but here it was sharper. In the middle rounds, Haney tried to land a good shot but couldn’t. He was more aggressive than expected, but I stayed defensive, not letting him find a rhythm.
Haney caught me with a solid left hook in the third round, right between my gloves. It woke me up, and I knew I had to get back to work. I recovered quickly. Later, I set up the first knockdown with a sweeping left hook. For two rounds, I threw lazy jabs to bait him. He’d try to counter with a right hand, focusing on offense, and then I’d hit him with the hook. He didn’t expect it after the lazy jabs, and I cracked him. I don’t know how he got up.
The referee was saving him after that. Haney got dropped two more times, but they weren’t called. I hit him with everything, and he showed a lot of heart. From the seventh round, he was just surviving. I knocked him down five times total. The second knockdown came from a combination—jab, right, then a hook as he pulled away. The third was a short left hook inside. Each knockdown used a different left hook: a lead hook, a combination hook, and an inside hook. Another time, in a clinch, he relaxed, and I finished him with a right and a left hook, knocking him down again. That one drained him completely.
I felt the fight was over after that—he had nothing left. In the clinch, Haney held me nonstop, but the referee never warned him. I got a point deducted unfairly with no warning. I hit Haney as we broke, didn’t hear the referee say “break,” and lost a point. Meanwhile, Haney’s holding went uncalled. It felt unfair.
By round 12, Haney needed a knockout to win. The round was chaotic, but the fight was already mine. It was one of the most entertaining fights I’ve had, with many iconic moments. It was a beautiful display of landing a left hook on a slick fighter. Haney couldn’t win the title since I missed weight, but he could have lost the belt. My power and timing overwhelmed him.”
Well, there you have it.
He still wants that fight back, and he’ll get it, if both he and Haney win this Friday — which are not easy things to do for either.
Haney fights Jose Ramirez in a great card this weekend.