Haney-Garcia was the good stuff. It's why we watch – the theater
of the unexpected, the element of surprise. It was a triumph for Ryan Garcia and a humbling experience for
the Haneys (Devin and father/trainer Bill), as well as for boxing fans and observers, with so many convinced
that the victory would be a formality for Haney, and that Garcia was on his way to an implosion in the ring.
Garcia, who was a notable betting underdog entering the bout, was without a doubt the better fighter on the night, the one who dominated the second half, scoring three knockdowns. And Haney, for all his accomplishments in the ring, could not avoid Garcia's signature left hook. Haney displayed bravery in getting up from the knockdowns, but he was outgunned, and perhaps more concerning, outthought on the night.
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| Photo courtesy of Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy |
The first question that needs to be asked is why did Haney keep getting hit by Garcia's left hook? After the fight, Haney was asked about the punch and he acknowledged that he was certainly aware of Garcia's primary weapon. So, what happened?
Garcia
cracked Haney in the first round with the left hook and it's perfectly
understandable that in the early part of the fight Garcia would have the
element of surprise with the punch. It's one thing for Haney to see it on You
Tube; it's another thing trying to defense it in the ring. Garcia whips his
left hook with so much torque and can place it perfectly on the point of the
chin. It's unlike most other left hooks in the sport. The trajectory, speed and
power behind the shot is unique. It's not that Haney got hit with the shot
early in the fight that's the major issue. Those things happen; the greats can
make adjustments.
My
main issue with Haney's performance is how Garcia was able to land the shot
later in the fight, after Haney had already seen it and had the opportunity to
neutralize it. Haney, the supposed defensive master, continually got caught
with the same left hook throughout the back half of the match.
And
this leads to the next question: Why was Haney still in range for the hook? Why didn't he try to make Garcia beat him with his right hand? Was it because of overconfidence? Arrogance? A lack of preparation?
To
be fair, Garcia's right hand was much better than advertised on the night and
he had stretches of the fight where he created a lot of concern for Haney with
his straight right. But none of the three knockdowns occurred from the right
hand, and that was telling. At a certain point, a master boxer learns to take
away a weapon. Recently, Shakur Stevenson did just this against Oscar Valdez.
Stevenson was willing to get hit by Valdez's right hand to ensure that he
stayed away from his left hook. On one hand Stevenson did get hit more than we
are used to seeing, but he stayed upright and was able to win the fight
comfortably because he understood the risk in front of him.
The
Haneys did not have a good night. Devin was
in the pocket too much, in range far too often. Devin expected to grind Garcia
down with volume and pressure. And although that initial strategy made sense
when considering how badly Garcia blew weight and the legitimate questions about his
mental state coming into the fight, why were there no adjustments from Haney
when it was clear that Garcia remained a threat?
With
knockdowns in the seventh, 10th and 11th rounds, Haney continued to get pasted
by Garcia's hook, and he let a victory slip away. Haney was essentially compliant
in his own demise. He and his father were unable to get out of the same rut.
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| Photo courtesy of Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy |
Let's also take a moment to credit Garcia's other punches. Often called a one-trick pony, Garcia set up the first knockdown in the fight from a perfect hooking off the jab combination, where he landed the jab and immediately followed with the hook. The deception worked because of the effectiveness of Garcia's jab and his ability to throw both punches from the same arm slot; Haney didn't know what was coming.
Garcia's
right hand was a factor in the knockdowns in the 10th and 11th rounds. The
tenth featured a multi-punch combination where he drove Haney back to the
ropes with Haney eventually falling over from the onslaught. Garcia landed
shots with both hands and it was a straight left in the exchange that did the most
damage. In the 11th, Garcia was able to break free from a clinch (another
subtle skill) and hit Haney with a cuffing right to the side of the head before
unloading with a pulverizing six-inch left hook that had Haney's eyes rolling
back before he hit the canvas. Without the right, I'm not sure that the left
lands there.
The
fight contained all sorts of other goodies to discuss too. How about referee
Harvey Dock's wild seventh round, where he might have missed two additional
Garcia knockdowns (calling them slips after clean shots were landed), and
rushing in to give Haney loads of extra time. He took a point away from Garcia
for hitting on the break (which was certainly within his judgment to do so),
but he took a massive amount of time to restart the action as Haney was
reeling.
Ultimately, I think that there are two key takeaways from the fight. First of all, you can never discount a guy with an A+ punch. It
doesn't matter if a fighter is getting beaten from pillar to post or has all sorts of
other disadvantages in a given matchup; the big-time punches are separators. There are
so few legitimate A+ punches in the sport that we tend to forget just how rare
and special they are. Ryan Garcia is live in any fight because of his left
hook. He can drop or stop anyone with it. It is up to the opponent to
neutralize the shot, because if Garcia is allowed to land his hook, the punch can and will change a fight.
I
think the other key is the poor strategic and tactical performance from Devin
and his father. In the Kambosos fights, Devin was
masterful in staying on the outside to win. Yet, Devin and his father never
employed this approach at any time against Garcia. They were determined to be
the hunter, to go after Garcia, and they suffered because of it. Was it a
stubbornness that they refused to change, or did the moment get away from them?
They were never able to regain control in the second half of the fight.
The
official ledger from the fight will say that Garcia won by majority decision.
There will also be a note that he missed weight by three pounds, with the upshot being that
Garcia did not win Haney's title belt. Yet none of that really encapsulates the
fight. Garcia was the one who dug down deep and turned the fight around. In the process, he not only beat a pound-for-pound-level fighter, but exposed serious shortcomings with Devin and his corner.
Overall,
Haney-Garcia was a thrilling night of action. I certainly hope that there's a
rematch and it will be fascinating to see what happens if the Haneys get their
tactics right. But first, a big piece of humble pie needs to be consumed. They
need to respect their opponents more. And they also must understand the
concepts of fallibility and mortality in the ring. Every fighter can be gotten
to, every fighter can be hurt, but the key question is what happens next? And this is where they failed.
On this night Ryan Garcia was king. He had heard all the criticism; he even played his role in facilitating much of it! But he reminded everyone what he can do in the boxing ring. As long as he has his left hand, he is a threat. To anybody.
