Boxing star Ryan Garcia had everyone fooled, dropping Haney three times in dominant victory
By Gilberto Manzano
Ryan Garcia had the boxing public fooled with his social media antics. When he wasn’t tweeting, Garcia evidently used the rest of his free time to train in the gym with trainer Derrick James.
Garcia delivered the best performance of his career dropping Devin Haney three times en route to a majority decision in front of a raucous crowd inside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Garcia quickly rocked Haney in the first round before knocking him down once in the seventh and 10th and 11th rounds. Haney appeared to gain a rhythm in the middle rounds, but his suspect chin failed him against Garcia’s power.
Garcia, however, made it harder on himself after losing a point for a late hit when the official told them to return to the center of the ring. One judge gave it a 112-112 draw and the other two had it in favor of Garcia (115-109, 114-110).
“I told y’all,” Garcia, a +550 underdog, said during his in-ring interview. “You guys hate on me because I’m pretty.”
Haney-Garcia PPV card results and takeaways
Arnold Barboza Jr. defeated Sean McComb by split decision (92-98, 96-94, 97-93)
In the co-main event, Barboza and McComb agitated the Brooklyn crowd with a lackluster junior welterweight bout that put many fight fans to sleep before Haney and Garcia made their ring walks. Barboza (30-0, 11 KOs) was showered with boos during his in-ring interview, with many fans believing McComb (18-2, 5 KOs) had won the fight.
Bektemir Melikuziev defeated Pierre Dibombe by technical unanimous decision (79-73, 78-74, 79-73)
The cutmen were busy during the super middleweight bout between Melikuziev and Dibombe.
Each fighter had a sizable gash above an eye, but the doctor refused to allow Melikuziev to continue with a wound that exposed the upper half of his left eye, forcing the judges to score the bout through eight rounds.
Melikuziev (14-1, 10 KOs) had done enough to record the technical unanimous decision, setting the pace in the early rounds against Dibombe (22-1-1, 12 KOs).
David Jimenez defeated John “Scrappy” Ramirez by unanimous decision (117-111, 117-111, 116-112)
The fighter known as “Scrappy” said he pursued a fight with Jimenez because he wanted to gain the experience the Costa Rican possesses. Unfortunately for Ramirez, he wasn’t ready to face such an experienced fighter, falling to Jimenez by unanimous decision during their 12-round bout for the WBA interim super flyweight title.
After a slow start, Jimenez (16-1, 11 KOs) put plenty of pressure on Ramirez (13-1, 9 KOs), taking him to deep waters in the later rounds. Ramirez appeared tired in the second half of the fight and had no answers for the phone booth type of fight. At this point, Golden Boy Promotions should avoid matching its top prospects with Jimenez, the champion from Costa Rica.
“I am very happy to become a champion again," Jimenez said. "I want to thank Golden Boy for the opportunity. I am ready to plan for what’s next. I felt great in the ring, and I felt like I was controlling the fight from the second round. Scrappy has a good punch and is a good boxer. Like all fighters, I want to become undisputed."
Charles Conwell defeated Nathaniel Gallimore by technical knockout (52 seconds of sixth round)
Conwell, a 2016 U.S. Olympian, continued to move up the junior middleweight rankings after a dominant sixth-round stoppage against Gallimore during the opening bout of the Haney-Garcia DAZN pay-per-view broadcast.
Conwell (19-0,14 KOs) set the tone by attacking Gallimore’s body with thunderous body shots. He worked his way up throughout the fight with a series of crushing combinations to the head that often ended with uppercuts. To his credit, Gallimore (22-8-1, 17 KOs) didn’t display signs of pain until the fifth round, but the official had seen enough by the sixth round and stopped the fight.
With a quiet crowd, Conwell finally got the Brookly crowd to react with his impressive performance and even got a shoutout from boxing star Shakur Stevenson on social media.
“I feel good,” Conwell said. “It was the coming back party. I thought he was a tough-game fighter. He came with a lot of experience, but I did what no other fighter has done. I stopped him in the sixth round. I don’t think any other fighter has beat him as bad as I did. He was a tough fighter and I appreciate him for taking the fight.
"We’re looking to get back in the ring asap, sometime in July or August. I’m back in the gym getting better. The ring rust is off. We’re ready for what’s next.”