Devin Haney vs. Ryan Garcia

Devin Haney vs. Ryan Garcia, billed as This One Counts, was a professional boxing match contested in the super lightweight division between the WBC super lightweight champion, Devin Haney, and former WBC interim lightweight world champion, Ryan Garcia. The bout took place on 20 April 2024 at the Barclays Center in New York.

The fight ended in a majority decision win for Garcia.

Background

On February 9, 2024, it was announced that Haney vs. Garcia was signed for April 20, 2024, in Las Vegas, Nevada for the WBC super lightweight title.

The title of the fight, This One Counts, is a reference to the six prior matches between Haney and Garcia in amateur boxing, with this one being their first official match in professional boxing. The last time they fought was in January 2015, the quarterfinals of the USA Youth National Championships. Their record in the amateurs stood evenly tied at 3–3.

Two days before the fight, Garcia agreed to a wager with Haney that Garcia would pay $500,000 for every pound over the limit should he miss weight.

Garcia later weighed in at 143.2lbs, 3.2lbs over the championship limit, and would forfeit up to $600,000 of his purse to Haney. Garcia would not be eligible to win the title.

Result

Garcia won the bout via majority decision. Garcia knocked down Haney three times in rounds 7, 10 and 11 before coming away with the victory by Majority Decision (114–110, 115–109, 112–112).

Garcia out-landed Haney 106–87 in total punches and 95–45 in power punches. Garcia landed 41% of his power punches, while Haney's previous 10 opponents landed 25%. Haney landed 7 of 18 punches per round whereas he had landed 13 of 42 in his previous 10 fights.

Official scorecards

Fight card

Allegations of cheating

On May 1, Voluntary Anti-Doping Association notified all involved parties that Garcia had tested positive for Ostarine, a performance-enhancing drug, the day before and the day of his fight with Haney. Garcia responded via social media, denying the accusations and citing his willingness to take the drug test.

The result is now pending the New York State Athletic Commission vote that would change the result from a Garcia win to either a No Contest or Haney win by disqualification.

References