Garcia on Haney: ‘I should’ve knocked him out that seventh round’

Ryan Garcia was crazy like a fox.

Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs) dropped Davin Haney (31-1, 15 KOs) three times, and pulled off the upset win by majority decision on Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn(DAZN PPV).

One judge had it on 112-112, which was overruled by two other judges, who scored the fight 115-109 and 114-110.

Garcia, who missed weight and was not eligible to win Haney’s WBC 140-pound belt, appeared to have Haney hurt in the first round with a left hook, but Haney did not hit the canvas and survived.

However, Haney would hit the deck for the first time in his career with another left hook in Round 7, which hurt Haney bad, but he was able to get up and get through the round. However, Garcia was docked a point by referee Harvey Dock for hitting Haney on the break. 

[Regarding the point being deducted in the seventh round] “The guy was holding me for dear life, and I felt the opportunity to keep swinging while my hands were free,” Garcia said.

Garcia believes he could have stopped Haney in Round 7.

“I should’ve knocked him out that seventh round,” he said. “They stole that from me. I’m surprised he has so much heart and recovery. He got wobbled bad in the first round. I thought it was over. He even hurt me with a hook. At the end of the day, I’m going to fight him, win or lose.” 

“King Ry” dropped Haney again in Round 10, but again, Haney got up and survived. Finally, Garcia knocked down the WBC 140-pound champion in Round 11. 

After 12 rounds, the upset was complete.

Photo: Golden Boy / Cris Esqueda

“I shouldn’t have put too much pressure on myself to stop him, because every time I hurt him, I went crazy and I couldn’t stop him,” said Garcia. “I think the ref should’ve stopped the fight. He (Haney) was really hurt. I felt bad; I even looked at Bill(Haney) to stop the fight.”

Golden Boy Promotions Chairman Oscar De La Hoya believes Garcia is the face of boxing.

“Ryan just shocked the world and proved once and for all that he is the face of boxing and a pound-for-pound athlete in our sport,” De La Hoya said. “Despite all of the talk from armchair psychologists and so-called boxing pundits, Ryan clearly had a plan and executed it.”

No one thought this fight would happen. Many thought Garcia’s erratic behavior would derail everything, but it didn’t, and Garcia proved all the doubters wrong. What a night!!