WBC light welterweight champion Devin Haney’s game plan cost him the fight against Ryan Garcia cost him the fight last Saturday night in New York.
Boxing analyst Chris Algieri believes that Haney’s ego or his underestimating Ryan (25-1, 20 KOs) may be the reason why he chose to try and slug with him, throwing leaping left hooks that left him open to being countered by the short punches that Garcia was throwing.
Algieri feels that Ryan was stronger for this fight because he came in 3.2 lbs over the limit at last Friday’s weigh-in, and that helped make the difference.
He says Ryan looked like a junior middleweight inside the ring, and his power, speed, and explosiveness were too much for Haney.
Haney’s Game Plan Cost Him
“No, it was not good,” said analyst Chris Algieri to Sean Zittel when asked if Haney’s game plan was not good. “There was a lot of left hooks thrown [by Haney]. I saw that in the warmup.
“The rule is jab with a jabber, don’t hook with a hooker. When I saw him throwing the hooks, and he threw them all night long, and he actually hurt Ryan in the third or fourth round. It just was not a good game plan,” said Algieri.
What Algieri failed to note was the pressure that was put on Haney to fight in an entertaining manner. His last PPV against Regis Prograis on DAZN had done poorly, tickets weren’t selling for his fight against Ryan, and he’d been criticized by fans on social media for being a boring fighter with no power.
With all that in mind, Haney decided to punch with Ryan rather than play it safe like he’d done against Prograis, Vasily Lomachenko, and George Kambosos. Hany had no choice, and the result showed that he was not equipped to brawl with power punchers like Ryan.
Devin Chose to Brawl
“I said leading up to this fight that Ryan’s path to victory was to try and get Haney to trade with him,” Algieri said. “He didn’t have to get Haney to trade with him. Haney chose to trade with him. I don’t know if it was ego or bravado or if they underestimated Ryan, but it was the wrong game plan and it showed,” said Algieri.
The way that Ryan fought, Haney would have a tough time if he’d boxed because he’d been trapped, and forced into slugging for survival. All the clinching that Haney did gave Ryan a chance to hit him with short punches, and that’s how he knocked him down in the seventh.
“Haney was boxing great in the second and third rounds. Ryan always blamed his weight for his performance in the Tank fight, and it makes me think that I can believe him now,” said Algieri.
If you compare the photos of Ryan’s physical appearance against Tank Davis to his fight with Haney, it’s like two different people. Ryan looked emaciated and sickly against Tank, whereas, against Haney, he was muscular and strong.
“He learned from that fight to this fight, and said, ‘Why would I make the weight and be weak?’ Tonight, he showed great poise, explosiveness, and a gas tank. He poured it on late in the fight,” said Algieri.
