Haney will still have pudding fists for the rematch. His chin will still be suspect. You gotta have power to beat Garcia. He can send those hooks flying against Haney without any fear of being countered.
Devin is smarter than what he showed that fight. Getting clipped by the left hook in the first round just showcased a bad game plan and prep by he and his team. I think in a rematch he could pull it off although he would have to make it a very boring fight on the outside and I still think Ryan would knock him down. Conversely, Garcia would be looser with his punches and throw more as he wouldn't be afraid of Devin's power or lack thereof.
It was an incredibly poor performance by Devin for his standards. Even still - scoring A Draw wasn't far off. A rematch would need to be at a higher weight so Haney would have to take that challenge. Technically Haney would shut out Garcia on a rematch. Ryan is better off taking his W and running.
I will preface my post with two things 1) I'm one of the rare Haney fans on here 2) I picked Haney to win and win easily That said, while I think Haney could win a rematch, I would not bet on it with any degree of confidence. Yes I felt Haney won the majority of rounds in the first half of the fight. I think he had an argument to have won round 8 and 9 after hitting the canvas in round 7 and almost getting TKO'd, could reasonably have been stopped and I don't think many would argue with it. That said, while he won plenty of rounds he never really looked in control of the fight. I think he averaged like 18 punches thrown per round which is nothing and the rounds he won were mostly from Garcia being shutdown and struggling to land his left hook. Haney seemed to hurt Garcia once but never could replicate it and was mostly limited to one punch at a time or short inside punches that did not do much damage. After six rounds I had the fight 58-56 giving Garcia round 1 and one more round cant remember if it was 5 or 6. The fight changed drastically in round 7 when Garcia began to land the right hand regularly and that allowed the left hook to follow behind it. Garcia for 6 rounds seemed mostly like a one trick pony with the left hook. At the end of round 5 or 6, the round I scored for him, he landed a few good rights that I thought carried it. By landing the right he was able to back Haney up and this set up the hook which turned the fight around. My immediate opinion is that Garcia took a little while to get the opening but once he found the weakness he exploited it. Maybe Haney could sharpen his defense and work on avoiding the right hand and left hook but I think Garcia's height, reach, and speed make that easier said than done. At the same time, Haney was not able to do enough offensively to deter Garcia from exploiting his advantage. Even the rounds Haney won, he never looked terribly comfortable or in control. Even when Garcia was on his bike running around the ring, Haney could not do much offensively. Even when Garcia turned his back Haney could not do anything meaningful despite having an open opponent. I am not doom and glooming on Haney who I still think has a bright future in boxing depending on how he rebounds from this humbling loss. He took it like a man and showed lots of heart going 12 when he seemed done at various times in round 7 and after.
Ryan Garcia doesn't need Devin Hagley anymore... He's a has been and Garcia now can go after bigger cash cows
True for the most part, but Garcia did get rocked once. The guy with the lightning fists and explosive power was clearly Garcia.
Haney would have been a hero for defeating a cheater if he did, but he lost. The cheater is supposed to win, all things equal the cheater will win, thats why they cheated to begin with. If Garcia was forced to lose those last three lbs after the weigh in, or get zero money, then have to pay back promoter's, then get sued, then it would be an even playing field, only if he made the weight. He paid 1.6 million to get out of losing those last 3 lbs. Haney is still the Champ at 140lbs and lost to a cheater. Garcia did what he did, he beat a champion of a lighter division while weighing in at the weight division above what he is competing at.
