A 10-year rivalry far from over

SToday’s fight in New York was just the latest chapter in a decade-long rivalry. Building on his victory on Saturday at the Barclays Center, Ryan Garcia only slightly tipped the scales in his favor, with four victories for him and three for Devin Haney.

Both Garcia And Haney have openly admitted that they fought several times during their amateur careers. The record is somewhat obscure, but most sources agree that they fought six times, with three victories each.

There is no record of the first match, but various sources claim that Haney won his second fight by decision. Garcia took revenge some time later in the 2014 US Junior National Championship. The last time they faced each other in non-professional boxing was during the 2015 edition of the national tournament, with the victory of Garcia.

Garcia and Haney have different versions

“King Ry” coincides with the account of their rivalry given by most specialists: six matches and three victories by the team among amateurs. However, Haney has a completely different story.

In various interviews, the Californian assures that he has never lost against Garcia during his time in the unpaid ranks. “I beat him every time. Don’t believe anything he says.” he said in an interview with Chris Mannix in 2020.

On several occasions, Haney assured that he had never been knocked down in his career, neither as an amateur, nor as a professional, nor in training. However, Henri Garcia, Ryan’s father, said in a conversation with Blue Blood Sports that his son “gave him his first eight count, so Ryan shook him.”

In this regard, it should be clarified that in amateur boxingthe referee may administer a count to eight even if the boxer was not knocked down.

There has never been a knockout

If unofficial counts are correct, all amateur fights between Haney And Garcia ended with the judges’ decision. Saturday evening’s match was also decided on points, with a shared victory for “The Dream” Garcia by 115-109, 114-110 and 112-112.

The result is gone Garcia with a record of 25 wins, one loss and 20 KOs. Haney, for his part, was 31-1, 15 KOs. But this rivalry is far from over. that of Garcia the extra weight and the fact that it did not end in a knockout will give both fighters plenty of arguments to seek a rematch and, who knows, maybe in the future we can talk about one of the great trilogies of all time.