Ryan Garcia has no place on P4P lists after skipping weight for shock Devin Haney win

Dom Farrell

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Ryan Garcia has no place on P4P lists after skipping weight for shock Devin Haney win image

“Come on guys, you really thought I was crazy? You gone lost your own mind!”

After the now obligatory props to Jesus Christ, these were Ryan Garcia’s first thoughts after he shook up the world with his remarkable majority decision win over WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney.

“I shook up the world” was, of course, part of Muhammad Ali’s unforgettable post-fight address when he beat Sonny Liston in 1964 to become heavyweight champion. They said he was crazy too.

“Crazy as a fox! We told you expect the unexpected. How do you like that?” gushed Sergio Mora as part of DAZN’s fight night commentary team when the verdict was announced — Haney having eeked out a draw on one scorecard but his three painful trips to the canvas courtesy of Garcia’s wrecking ball left hook costing him on the other two.

Talk of the greatest trolling in sports history dominated the immediate aftermath. Garcia had fooled us all, the smartest man in the room. As “King Ry” went through his other post-fight media duties, it remained hard to see where the truth ended and the augmented reality of the most online man in boxing began. Perhaps that’s just how he wants it and it will remain part of his strategy for the mega-money fights that lie ahead.

MORE: How Ryan Garcia shocked the world against Devin Haney

If you fiddle with the facade a little, however, the story of the king who cried wolf isn’t as convenient as he thinks. At his victory press conference, Garcia referred to “real s*** going on in the world… kids being hurt”. This suggests his repeatedly disturbing claims about the Bohemian Grove conspiracy are a belief he actually holds. If they aren’t, then it’s frankly abysmal territory to conduct pre-fight mind games.

Less out there but similarly vulgar was Garcia pledging to “kill” Haney during the build-up and arriving on fight night in a “RIP Devin Haney” t-shirt. Bill Haney had already returned fire by saying his son would kill Garcia. Given the obvious and grave risks involved in boxing, none of this should ever be allowed to pass as promotion or trolling. Even in a sport that repeatedly appears incapable of effectively governing itself, such words and sentiments will always be way beyond the pale.

Garcia also spoke about problems in his personal life and how he “drank everyday” during training camp while grappling with personal demons. That's a worry, given how wins like this rarely optimise the size of one's social circle or the quality of people within it. We can’t really say how much of what he says is true because, if we’re now in on Garcia’s bit, we can’t take him at his word. 

One humble piece of fight week apparatus never lies, though. Weighing scales.

Amid all the noise generated and distorted by Garcia’s antics, the challenger missed the 140lbs super-lightweight limit by 3.2lbs. That’s almost halfway towards the welterweight limit. It’s a huge amount. It's the reason Garcia was a winner this weekend but is not a world champion. It's the reason he cannot be considered for P4P lists despite the calibre of opponent he beat.

Boxing’s era of catchweights for its superstars has perhaps deadened outrage around the very basic and fundamental requirement of making weight. If weight divisions have been a moveable feast for the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, then why should we care how much this madman Garcia weighs?

Devin Haney and his team certainly should have cared more. As it was, Garcia took a financial hit and did not have to adhere to any rehydration clause. This was where his wider mayhem had its biggest impact on fight night. Haney didn’t punish Garcia as he should have done for skipping weight, presumably because he felt the man before him was in no condition to trouble one of the best boxers in the world.

Haney had depleted himself to make the championship weight like any decent title holder does. Whether day-before weigh-ins and rehydration clauses are in the best interests of fighters is a wider conversation to be had. The bottom line is Garcia knew the rules and broke them because he felt free to act with impunity.

Sometimes it becomes clear that fighters who missed weight got themselves into an awful tangle doing so. The Sporting News was ringside for Leigh Wood’s WBA featherweight rematch with Mauricio Lara in July 2023, five months on from Mexican KO artist Lara demolishing Wood with a lethal left hook. The champion lost his title on the scales as he came in heavy, but fears for Wood’s wellbeing evaporated as the rounds went by. Lara was a shell, he’d messed up and had to endure a solemn 36-minute boxing lesson.

Within a minute of Haney vs. Garcia getting underway, it was clear Ryan was not depleted. First up, he looked huge. Then he uncorked his honey punch onto Haney's chin. The champ stayed upright but his legs buckled and on TV replays you could see his eyes rolling back into his head. Haney’s promoter Eddie Hearn suggested afterwards that his man never recovered fully from that blow.

Let that sink in. A noted power puncher damaged his foe in the first round having entered the ring bigger and stronger because he broke the most fundamental pre-fight rule. For all the commendable heart, not to mention skill off the jab as he banked rounds in the first half of the fight, the terms were set for Haney. It was galling to see an elite fighter repeatedly fail to block Garcia’s main weapon. The three knockdowns in rounds seven, 10 and 11 were brutal. It was remarkable that Haney got up from the first and third in particular.

“Ryan Garcia has power that can change the fight at any time and he did just that,” was another of Mora’s observations. True, and that power is all the more potent for a man who has decided to gain an unfair advantage by coming in bigger and stronger. 

Boxing fans are rightly outraged by the threat of performance-enhancing drugs, the advantage they can give to a fighter and the danger they can pose to an opponent if unchecked. Garcia happily trumpeted every VADA test he passed, but is the equation really any different when it comes to his cheating by skipping weight and repeatedly dishing out damaging blows to an opponent’s skull?

WATCH: Devin Haney vs. Ryan Garcia on DAZN

The boxing world that Ali shook up 60 years ago was a much bigger place. The sport was a mainstream concern. For all the madness that is baked into the fight game, this brought with it a level of accountability in terms of maintaining some level of public decency. 

By contrast, Garcia is the new king of a sporting wild west where anything goes. All his antics are content, eyeballs and dollars. Where you sit on that is a matter of taste, but if making weight is something you do when you fancy it and there are no discernable consequences, then we’re into deeply problematic territory.

Garcia made a calculation. Passing up a shot at a first world title and paying a heavy fine was worth it for the status and riches he could acquire by beating up Haney. That calculation will be vindicated over the months and years ahead. 

Oscar De La Hoya called him the “face of boxing” in the afterglow. Hard lessons must be learned from a gruesome week in New York if Garcia is to be the face of a sport and not a lawless sham.

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Dom Farrell

Dom Farrell Photo

Dom is the senior content producer for Sporting News UK. He previously worked as fan brands editor for Manchester City at Reach Plc. Prior to that, he built more than a decade of experience in the sports journalism industry, primarily for the Stats Perform and Press Association news agencies. Dom has covered major football events on location, including the entirety of Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in Paris and St Petersburg respectively, along with numerous high-profile Premier League, Champions League and England international matches. Cricket and boxing are his other major sporting passions and he has covered the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, Gennadiy Golovkin and Vasyl Lomachenko live from ringside.