Garcia vs. Haney: A Cautionary Tale Against Buying Into Groupthink Foregone Conclusion Narratives.

Alright, a few thoughts and observations about the seemingly legendary events of 4/20. A bewildering occurence that most are bizarrely calling an upset, some in a gobsmacked state of incredulity actually went as far as saying this result was mind blowing and it shocked them to their cores, one of the greatest upsets in boxing history even. Now, this is a violently irrational overreaction which is pretty goddamn hard for me to process. Sure, with nary a shred of doubt in my mind, I predicted Ryan Garcia would win by KO, a result that Ryan and I were both brutally robbed of several times, by the utterly depraved bald faced bias and corruption of Haney's personal bodyguard and shield, Harvey Dock, who should never be allowed to referee a title match again. So of course I'm not shocked by the outcome. Yes, I make lot of bold predictions, some of which I get spot on, some of which blow up in my face. Still, I maintain, most of the time even when I take a loss, they're usually near misses and my instincts weren't that far off. But instead of beating my chest and gloating since there's a handful of other posters that picked the same, instead I'm going to lay out why I picked Ryan Garcia, because I never put forth the effort to break the match down before the fight, instead I only dropped hints here and there as to my thinking. Mostly because the carnival sideshow like lead up was a huge turn off, coupled with my lack of passion lately. All of the bad decisions have robbed me of my joy and appreciation for the sport. Like the Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels, I've lost my smile. Although I'm also going to ask the question of the people who so assuredly picked Haney in abrasively obnoxious cocksure fashion... what the hell were you thinking?

The reality is, Devin Haney has never been what most make him out to be, which to some more delusional ones, was the next Floyd Mayweather. They willingly blind themselves to this fact, much of his career has been a carefully micromanaged facade and a sham in which he and his team game and manipulate the system for all that it's worth, to get every advantage humanly possible weighted in his favor, before he ever steps foot in the ring. Most wins, if they're not controversial, breed a form of amnesia, which causes fanboys to ignore the rounds lost and the hiccups many fighters encounter along the way. So instead of carefully breaking down the pros and cons of a performance, in the aftermath of most of his wins, since most fans aren't all that introspective, they just do a little happy dance, pretend like it was a one sided schooling and that the performance was flawless, when so often that's anything but the case. Or even if the win came close to being perfect, they're usually unwilling to analyze all of the factors/beneficial extenuating circumstances that contributed to the flawlessness of said performance.

Yes, Haney put on a masterclass against Regis Prograis, but just look at the dire state of the Prograis that he schooled. He was coming off of a career worst performance including suffering an uncalled knockdown against a subpar fighter in Danielito Zorrilla, who was beaten with relative ease by the quite hacky Arnold Barboza, who could barely lay a finger on the equally quite hacky Sean McComb last night. So Haney going in, knew he had a stylistic advantage over The Rougarou, who's always been slow footed, with bad balance and he's a southpaw with T-Rex arms, at a decisive reach disadvantage. Most including myself, hoped that Prograis would at least still be physically strong and could outmuscle him, throw caution to the wind, walk through shots, toss him around and turn it into a dogfight. But at 34, after years of making the 140 limit, as shown in the Zorrilla fight, it started catching up to him. Because he looked weak, frail, slower than ever and his punch resistance had all but disappeared. So that performance, if working under the assumption that that was far from the best Prograis, which was more than obviously the case, clearly greatly flattered Haney. Sure, one could surmise that because Haney didn't have to drain himself to make 135, that he was stronger. But we never really saw any real evidence of that, because it's not like Haney took the initiative after dropping and hurting Prograis several times. Clearly he was unsure of himself still. So that's a hell of a leap to hang your hat on in terms of his ability to hurt a prime young undrained fighter like Garcia.

Okay, that brings us to his previous 5 performances, which let's be honest, are the only halfway decent opponents he's shared the ring with. He was gifted a victory over Lomachenko, there's no real use in arguing otherwise, because even if you think he took the W, at best, you had him winning by a single very debatable round. So that's not worth hanging your hat on either. You can't say he was drained, because he rehydrated up several weight divisions, and even with every advantage possible at his disposal, he still didn't have quite enough to beat a blown up Featherweight with T-Rex arms. Clearly the speed, footwork and angles of Lomachenko gave him fits, he didn't even react all that well to Loma's minimal power. He was stunned a few times, and that's with the 30 pounds of added bulk for chin protection. The match once again proved what the last few matches had shown us, that Haney was far from some defensive master when it comes to someone adept at cutting off the ring, who happens to possess fast hands and good timing. He gets tagged a lot in fact, because Vasyl Lomachenko landed 124 punches on Haney.

The two wins over Kambosos are barely worth discussing, sure George calls himself Ferocious, but the man doesn't have as much dog in him as he seems to think. Sure, he beat Teofimo, but why is that? Because clearly as we've seen with his performances against Sandor Martin and Jamaine Ortiz, Teofimo struggles against solid counter punchers. While hard to process and seemingly counterintuitive, against dangerous quality fighters, George by nature tends to be a counter puncher, because he's special needs level inept when being the aggressor. He rarely took the lead even against guys like Lee Selby and Mickey Bey. Had he not gone for it late and scored a decisive knockdown, because he needed to with Bey, he might've taken the first blemish on his record that night. But Teofimo being an unhinged crackpot, played right into his hands by fighting like a wildman, giving him plenty of opportunities to pick him apart, by being overly aggressive. But against Haney on both occasions, he was put into a position that he's very uncomfortable with, being a front foot fighter. He hates taking the lead, and since Haney is a super Mickey Bey, he dissected him with ease. His gift over Maxi Hughes, who he looked utterly inept against validates this observation. Maxi dominated him just as decisively as Haney did. Still in two lopsided losses, Kambosos landed a combined total of, 176 punches on Haney.

Then we have his win over JoJo Diaz, who people seem to forget, he struggled mightily against, and it was anything but some one sided ass whupping. JoJo... one of the most featherfisted fighters in the sport, taxed his ass and pushed him to the limit, and yes... even managed to rock him to his core on several occasions. It could be argued that JoJo won between 4 and 5 rounds, and the judges scorecards reflect that. What does JoJo have going for him that those other fighters don't? While slow, he's good at cutting off the ring and is a high volume puncher. Before facing Haney, JoJo looked like sheer ass against both Rakhimov and a shot to hell old past it Fortuna, after facing Haney, JoJo has been on a losing streak of epic proportions, taking L's against Zepeda who dominated every second of their fight. Then to add insult to injury he was picked a part with ease by the shell of Mercito Gesta and got out hustled and outworked by quality journeyman, but still.. a journeyman in Jesus Perez. So before and after his fight with Haney, all evidence points towards JoJo being a spent force, who was never elite to begin with. By the end of this encounter, JoJo Diaz Jr. who can't crack an egg, had landed 140 punches on Haney.

Then we have his near fateful meeting with one of the best glass cannons in the sport, Jorge Linares. To say Jorge was a done when Haney faced him would be an understatement. Some were fearing for Linares' health beforehand. He was coming off of TKO losses to Lomachenko and Pablo Cesar Cano, and then went on to lose against Abdullaev and Catterall, but even more troubling, as one of the few people who've actually seen his match against Zhora Hamazaryan, that loss was legit too. But still, Jorge with his fast hands, aside from the now notorious Bambi leg inducing shot he landed, managed to win the 4th, and arguably swept the last 3 to 4 rounds. Yes Haney won, no one is arguing otherwise, but Linares' performance was far better than people gave him credit for. Now, why was it that this old glass jawed shell of a fighter was the one rocking the young whippersnapper, and not the other way around? Haney hit him with everything, barely made a dent, Jorge soaked up all of the punishment like a trooper, completely unfazed. Of course people will make the argument, because Jorge said it himself, Haney both lacked power and was rocked because he was drained! Yeah, then how om the hell did he manage to make the Lightweight limit another 4 times? By the end of that match, Jorge Linares landed 119 punches on Haney.

 

Last night proved that Boxing is the ultimate "what have you done for me lately?" sport. You could be seen as an all time great heading into a match, but if you take a loss, you'll instantaneously be seen as a bum and written off in your next match, maybe next 2 or 3. Hell, you might even have people calling for your retirement. It's already happening with Haney, which I find utterly ridiculous as well. Again, with the amnesia, Ryan Garcia lost to Tank Davis, and I'll repeat, to TANK DAVIS. While I'm not the biggest fan of Stank, the ugly little munchkin hits like a goddamn Mack Truck. He's KO'd every opponent he's faced with the sole exception of Pitbull Cruz, whose head is basically a cinder block with skin stretched over it. I doubt even Ryan could stop Cruz. But people also forget, Tank was pulling a Haney, trying to weasel every possible advantage he could out of the pre fight negotiations, and while Ryan stupidly only has himself to blame for accepting these repulsive stipulations. Still, at the end of the day, Ryan who hadn't made 135 in two years, and he currently fights exclusively at 143, was as drained as Skeletor lost in the Sahara. Now, I say Tank was weasley because he fought and stopped Mario Barrios at 140 (who neither Thurman nor Ugas, both Welterweights, could stop), so there was literally no need for the rehydration limit, it was put in place for the sole vile purpose of weakening Ryan and giving Wahid an advantage, nothing more. Kingry looked out of it mentally and a bit lost, but even then, he was still able to soak up the shots of one of the biggest punchers in the sport for 7 rounds before finally succumbing. Of course he was dropped twice, bit he also got up from both of them, clearly milking the second one for a second or two too long. You could even make an argument that Haney was in far worse condition after the 1st and 3rd knockdowns last night than Ryan was with either of his. So my point is, all of the people who bought into believing that Haney could stop non-drained Garcia, it was more than obvious they were deluding themselves.


Now, when you take into consideration the following.....

Kambosos landed 176 punches on Haney
JoJo Diaz Jr. landed 140 punches on Haney.
Jorge Linares landed 119 punches on Haney.
Vasyl Lomachenko landed 124 punches on Haney.

...and that Ryan Garcia didn't have to kill himself to make weight. Wasn't a blown up former Featherweight leprechaun. Isn't at a distinct reach disadvantage. This is a guy who's just as big, if not bigger than Haney. Who's easily the biggest puncher who Haney has ever faced, who'll be at the undiluted height of his power. That Ryan Garcia while far from a great boxer, he has several things going for him, he's very reactive, with a left hook like a mousetrap, and a straight right like a heat seeking missile, who has incredibly sharp reflexes, who has blistering hand speed when he lets them fly. Who has a very stiff powerful jab when he uses it, the speed advantage and a tremendous power advantage. To think that the aforementioned fighters, who aside from power, possess several of the same attributes as Ryan, all landed, on average, in excess of 100 punches on Devin Haney, hurting him on occasion. To then come to the conclusion that Ryan, who is faster, sharper and heavier handed, not only couldn't do the same? But didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of victory against a fairly easy to hit featherfist, who he has three wins over in the amateurs. Quite frankly, is sheer folly in my opinion.

Haney has always been a bit of a sucker for the left hook and the straight right, those two shots are what Linares rocked him and then buckled him with after all, at the end of the 8th and then 9th rounds. Well, surprise surprise... by the end of the match, Garcia landed 106 far more impactful punches on Haney, than the 100 per fight landed on him to date, and when Ryan Garcia lands in excess of 100 punches on glass chinned fighters, mother****ers end up going down... multiple times... sometimes even from glancing blows. But... but... but... the skill gap is too great!!!! But was it? Garcia aggressively walked down and KO'd the fairly slick southpaw Luke Campbell, who gave Linares and Loma fits, and that was after Luke dropped him. So let's not act like a focused and determined Garcia is incapable of stylin' and profilin' when he wants. So yeah, the fact that Haney who isn't great at making adjustments, who tends to freeze up quite often, especially when things aren't going his way, was finally fighting a prime quite large young fighter, with incredible speed, who while a one trick pony, that's a hellaciously brutal trick to rely on, was that big of a favorite, is patently absurd and more proof that logic and reason robbing groupthink, herd mentality and peer pressure induced conformist thinking, isn't just a thing in this sport, but a dominant feature.

Of course one could argue, but what of Ryan's mental state? He passed a New York State mental evaluation didn't he? Sure, maybe it was on the shady side, but was it? Ryan and his team were appalled by it and has threatened to sue the NY State Athletic Commission. He's an attention hungry social media star, who wanted to drum up interest in the fight, nothing more, which is why I never contributed one post on any of the threads debating any of this nonsense. It was clear as day performance art, at the weigh in, in the face to face, in the stand offs, in the social media posts. All to give Haney a false sense of security thinking he was facing a kook, or was it? Maybe it was to show his supreme confidence, braggadociously strutting around implying, with callous disregard to Haney, that I have such self belief that I can beat you with one hand tied behind my back, I barely need to friggin train! Whatever way you look at it, it wasn't like he was giving off scared vibes now was he? Maybe nuts, maybe aggressive, maybe conspiratorial and delusional. But yes.. occasionally anger is a gift and can focus you. Clearly he has no love for Diddy's boytoy, so as I implied before the match, if Ryan comes out guns blazing, gunning for a KO, using that anger and rage to sharpen his gaze helping him to zero in on landing that left hook as many times as possible. He might take him out in the first round, and goddammit he almost did! So yeah, it was all smoke and mirrors, intended to pull the wool over the eyes on Haney and his fans, and it clearly worked. They fell for it hook, line and sinker. An immaculate beautifully played troll con job of epic proportions, which truly will go down as the stuff of legend.

As far as all of the missing weight by 3 pounds nonsense, it's meaningless. If we believe what he said, Ryan barely trained, had pisspoor cardio and drank every night in the lead up. Regardless, Haney has repeatedly gamed the system to get advantage after advantage, ones that are usually always weight related. Although all of that very well could have been a lie. Well then, Ryan laughed in the system and Haney's face to get his, instead of going behind the scenes like a sneaky snake having Machiavellian sleazeballs orchestrate yet another conjob, he transparently did it out in the open, in front of God and everybody. He paid for those transgressions, by dropping some cash and not winning some pointless meaningless antiquated metal trinket that no one remember by week's end. Good for him!!! I find it all ****ing hilarious. If anyone deserved this kind of treatment it was Haney and his scumbag father. Although ultimately Ryan really didn't have much of an advantage now did he? Because those three pounds were negated by Haney's 30 extra, but at the end of the day, Haney's chin wouldn't have been able to absorb those kind of shots from a Ryan Garcia that made weight or missed it, and every last one of you complaining, goddamn well knows it. Turnabout's fair play!

Now, let this all serve as a lesson, to stop falling in with the pack so willingly, start thinking not only for yourself, but outside of the box. Because this probable outcome was there for all to see, all you needed to do is think critically, stop buying into hype machines, stop letting them con and manipulate you, stop deceiving yourselves into believing fighter's are greater than they actually are, start looking behind the curtain and expose all of these Wizard of Oz like charlatans for what they are. Snake oil salesmen, following a blueprint countless promoters have laid out before them, constructing hypejob after hypejob, who they promote as future all time greats, who are at best, slightly above average fighters. The truth is out there, for all to see, all it takes is opening one's eyes.

 

After what he did to Zepeda, it's a distinct possibility. Although I think destroy is a bit hyperbolic.

 

I love Jim Lampley, but for **** sake!

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Precisely, the shamelessness and hypocrisy is unrelenting and never-ending, and no accountability after the fact whatsoever, hence why almost no one is touching this thread with a ten foot pole, as per usual. The last refuge of a scoundrel isn't patriotism or ad hominems, it's avoidance.

For the record, truly great minds think alike, after I hit post on this last night (I initially wrote this on the RBR, and it took me around an hour and a half) I immediately went to the Malignaggi thread to see that you'd basically written the same thing an hour earlier. I almost felt like Joe Biden for a second.

 

Not only can they not respond to any of our posts, because they're filled with nothing but the unvarnished brutal truth. But staring just a bit too long, is extremely hazardous to one's mental health.

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