- WBC Super Lightweight Championship Bout
- Date: Apr 20, 2024
- Main Card Time: 11 PM ET
- How to Watch Live: DAZN PPV
Results: Garcia by Majority Decision
Ryan Garcia would go on to shake up on the divison winning a hard-fought majority decision over Devin Haney. Unfortunately, Garcia weighed in 3 lbs overweight, and forfeited in his opportunity to acquire the division title… and $1.5M in a side bet from the presser. Regardless, in a remarkable showing of resilience Ryan would go on to drop Haney three times, earning just enough to edge him out on two of the three cards,
Tale of the Tape
Devin Haney vs. Ryan Garcia
- Age: Haney (34) | Garcia (37)
- Height: Haney (5’9”) | Garcia (5’10”)
- Reach: Haney (71”) | Garcia (70″)
- Record: Haney (31-0-0, 17 KOs) | Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs)
- Country: Haney (NV, USA) | Garcia (CA, USA)
- 3-Way Odds: Haney (-900) | Garcia (+550) | Draw (TBA)
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Narratives
Devin Haney (-900)
Devin Haney was one of the Four Kings of the Lightweight Division, along with his next opponent Ryan Garcia. The Dream is undefeated in his professional career, albeit mostly against tin cans, and he’d admit that himself. Over the last four years, Haney has significantly stepped up the competition level facing exclusively champions (or former champions). He’s earned wins over Gatekeepers Gamboa and Jorge Linares and two over former lightweight champ Kambosos Jr before defending those titles, in a controversial decision, over Vasyl Lomachenko. Here comes the tea, there were whispers in the boxing world that Haney didn’t want to fight Loma again or Shakur, who was nipping at his heel on all the socials. However, more likely, Haney is 5’10 and 25 years old, the cut to 140 lbs has got to be brutal. He and his team believe 147lb is a better division for his body at this point in his career. So far, they seem to be right the LW champion went on to quell some of that controversy moving up a division and securing a decisive victory over Regis Prograis for the Super Lightweight Championship Belt.
Ryan Garcia (+550)
Ryan Garcia, the other quarter of the Four Kings of the LWs and the epitome of the “Instagram boxer.” Ryan’s meteoric rise to a PPV draw in the lightweight division had a lot to do with his persona outside the ring, then backing it up in his highlights. Since he was a teenager, he’s gone viral for his hand speed and left hook, and since then, he has demonstrated time and time again in the ring. Say what you will about him in and out of the ring, Ryan is a large part of the reason so many eyes have since returned, or first came, to the sport. Ryan has torn through his opponents throughout his career, again mostly tin cans, until he knocked out Luke Campbell in 2021 and began to put the division on actual notice. He’d trounce his next two opponents until walking into the biggest draw in prize fighting right now, Gervonta Davis. Ryan’s bout with Davis went about as I anticipated it. Ryan was dropped by a body shot in round 7 and did not make the count. Ryan took a few months to gather himself and is now ready to decide a rivalry hat’s about a decade in the meeting and evenly drawn.
The Odds
BetMGM, our preferred book for this event, has Haney (-900) heavily favored straight up over Garcia (+550).
Full odds data to be released closer to bout.
Fight Analysis & Prediction
Haney’s keys to victory in his next fight will be par for his course. Haney has, arguably, the best jab in professional boxing. It’s long and sharp, he throws it from outside, keeping his opponents exactly where he wants them, as he dances around back to the center of the ring. Excluding Terrence Crawford or perhaps Shakur Stevenson, no one in these divisions fights with Haney’s boxing IQ and composure. Even when Haney has opponents hurt, he stays well disciplined; pressure, reset, jab, jab, circle, repeat until he secures a comfortable decision or the knockout. He’s been called a “boring fighter.”, but that’s often just another term for Exceptional Boxer, and what he cannot be called is a runner. Further Garcia’s head doesn’t seem to be fully into the match. Ryan’s claimed he’s recently been witness to violent crimes by a group of wealthy elites. Alleged or not, that’s a lot to focus on other than the most important fight of your career to date. They still have a few weeks before their bout, and the way fight pressers work, expect there to be some mind games and antagonization from Camp Haney that may play well into the fight.
Do not count out Ryan Garcia. Garcia has been in there with the likes of Gervonta Davis, and while laser-sharp, Haney isn’t known for his power. The power advantage goes to Garcia; according to most, that’s been the case since the amateurs, where Garcia kept the series even, 3-3. Garcia’s hand speed and left hook are his bread and butter; fortunately for him, his forté is Haney’s biggest liability. Haney’s right hand bows when he shoots his jab, leaving his chin up, out, and terribly exposed. While he managed to get to this level so far, Linares proved Haney has a button to press; and Garcia may have the tools to find it. Garcia’s goal will be to counter Haney’s jab with the left hook and put his lights out. It’s not particularly his style, but he should make the fight ugly. He should push the pace early and ahead on the cards as early as he can, then when Haney begins to come alive in the later rounds, look for that shot. If you don’t find it by the twelfth, Garcia is probably too far behind and has to swing for the fences.
Our Pick: Devin Haney – DEC (TBA)
While the odds are certainly skewed, Haney’s definitely the favorite. Expect Haney to control the center of the ring and the distance for the majority of the fight. It’ll be a slow start, but come around the 6th round, Haney will begin to pull away. Haney needs to watch the left hook on the exit (and entry) of his combinations, that’s his only real concern here and what we have reflected in the odds. Haney should take a page out of Gervonta’s book and time the Garcias’ left hook when he spams it in the mid-range.
