Danny Garcia Believes Haney Underestimated Ryan Garcia’s Skillset

Danny Garcia, a former two-time world champion, says Ryan Garcia didn’t look like a fighter on steroids when he defeated Devin Haney on April 20th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Underestimating Garcia’s Abilities

According to Danny, Haney picked Ryan Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs) because he thought he could win, but he got it wrong. He chose Ryan, believing he would emerge victorious, but he failed by selecting someone too good. Danny feels that Haney, now 31-0 again, is making excuses for why he lost.

If Haney didn’t think he could beat Ryan, he wouldn’t have chosen him. he thought he was going to outbox him, but he didn’t factor in Kingry’s experience against him, having won three of their fights in the amateurs.

Ryan’s left hook, hand speed, and power were too much for Haney, who was getting clobbered all night when he would dive in to clinch. In the past, Haney wasn’t a clincher, but he’s adopted that approach since his fight with Jorge Linares, and it had worked for him. But against Ryan, Haney gets caught repeatedly when he tries to hold an easy prey.

Haney has become set in his ways with his holding and could adapt by staying on the outside because clinching is his bread & butter style. He throws a punch and then clinches.

“I’m pretty sure Devin Haney thought he was going to beat him anyway. He thought he was better than him. That’s why he fought him because he thought he was better,” said former two-division world champion Danny Garcia to Fight Hub TV, talking about Devin Haney’s fight against Ryan Garcia on April 20th.

Haney likely would have still fought Ryan even if he thought he was going to lose because of the money he would make. Ryan’s fight with Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis last year brought in a ton of PPV buys, and both guys made huge dough.

In contrast, Haney’s fights against Vasily Lomachenko and Regis Prograis weren’t ones in which he made colossal cash. For Haney to get that money, he needed Ryan, so it was an apparent fight, but he seemed to think he would win.

“He just thought he was going to go in there and outbox him and beat him,” said Danny. “He didn’t think he was going to be like that. Ryan didn’t look like he was throwing a million punches a round.”

One could understand why Haney was overconfident going into the Garcia fight because he had just beaten Regis Prograis and Vasily Lomachenko in back-to-back fights, and those guys were major talents. Haney made it look easy beating Prograis last December, so the thought was that he would do the same thing to Ryan.

The hand speed and dangerous left hook that Ryan had was a nightmare for Haney, and like I said, his habit of frequent holding put him in the line of fire. If you were to create a style that is perfect for Ryan’s left hook, it would be Haney’s because of his holding.

“He looked like a fighter who wasn’t on steroids to me because he did take rounds off. He did take his time,” said Danny. “He was hurting him, but he’s a hard hitter. I just think they had a history. They were 3-3, and Ryan in his head knew he could beat him because he beat him before.”

I don’t know that Ryan knew he could beat Haney. It was more of a case of him wanting to test himself against a good fighter, and he felt it would be one that would generate interest and a lot of money.

“Boxing is all mental. If you know you can beat somebody already, then you don’t care. You don’t respect them, and that’s all it is. There’s always going to be some sort of excuse. Any time someone loses, ‘I was sick. It was a bad day,’” said Danny Garcia.