There’s going to be the temptation to say that Ryan Garcia was loopy like a fox through the lead-in to this Devin Haney battle, that his bat-shit craziness was a shrewd ploy to throw the disciplined Haney off his recreation.
I don’t assume that was the case in any respect.
Partly, as a result of Garcia was nonetheless just about saying the identical bunch of bat-shit loopy shit within the post-fight interview and within the speedy aftermath of his majority resolution victory on Saturday night time at Barclays Heart in Brooklyn.
In different half, as a result of, let’s be actual, Garcia appeared like canine shit. He was a stylistic mess and gave away big parts of the battle to a seemingly hapless Haney, simply because he didn’t appear to know what to do or the place to go strategically. Even his vaunted left hook– which dropped Haney on three events and harm him each time it landed, beginning with the very first time it landed simply seconds into the bout– was sloppy as fuck. So, he clearly wasn’t getting ready doggedly and furtively between social media bull classes, fine-tuning his type and dealing on pacing, footwork, and conditioning.
He simply managed to clip Haney and Haney couldn’t deal with it.
I’m not going to say that I predicted this, however Garcia buzzing and beating Haney didn’t shock me as a lot because it shocked others. In each piece I had written about this battle, I discussed it as a definite chance. As a matter of truth, simply this previous Thursday in my Magno’s Bulging Mail Sack, I responded to an e-mail with this:
“…Garcia has a greater probability of scoring the upset in opposition to Haney than he did in opposition to Gervonta Davis. There are a number of causes for that. Haney is stiffer, much less fluid than Tank– on the subject of each type and mindset. Subsequently, he’s extra prone to be caught with one thing random. He’s additionally a fighter who may be very orthodox, once more, in each type and mindset. Fighters with orthodoxy drilled into them can typically be delay by an unorthodox (or extra stylistically crude) opponent…Garcia might or might not have taken coaching severely for this battle (my guess is…not), however he nonetheless has that rocket left hook of his, which, as I stated on this week’s Notes from the Boxing Underground column, I nonetheless think about one among boxing’s finest single-shot weapons. If he lands that punch on the proper time/place, Haney may very well be in a nasty place and all that good coaching and gymnasium self-discipline can be out the window. Briefly, Garcia has an actual puncher’s probability.”
The end result of this battle begs the query of simply how good Ryan Garcia may very well be if he took any of this boxing stuff actually and actually severely and if he devoted himself to constructing a stable base of fundamentals round that left hook (and, truly, a not-that-bad proper hand, too).
However good luck with that. Boxing individuals have been questioning aloud about that since Ryan first hit the primary stage. It’s exhausting to persuade somebody that what’s labored up to now, bringing tens of tens of millions of {dollars} and big-time fame, may work so a lot better. As I as soon as wrote: “Garcia was a star in his personal world properly earlier than combating on any boxing primary stage and it’s powerful coaching a star to be a fighter.” If the mauling by the hands of Tank Davis final yr didn’t function a “we gotta take this shit severely” get up name, nothing will– and positively this huge win received’t dissuade him from altering a factor. That ugly-ass and wildly ineffectual, self-cock-blocking shoulder roll is staying.
As I wrote within the post-fight recap after his KO loss to Davis: “However none of that [his plan to move up in weight after being stopped by Davis] will matter if Garcia doesn’t let himself be educated correctly. At 140 or past he’ll nonetheless be that man who’s proficient sufficient to beat the underside 99% of fighters, however who’ll flounder in opposition to the highest 1%.”
The upset additionally brings up a ton of questions on Devin Haney, who, perhaps, was confirmed to NOT be in that high 1% talked about above.
Questions on his chin and his capacity to take an enormous punch have adopted him all through his profession. They’ll be even greater questions now.
There’ll be questions on his coaching as properly. Like, for example, if Haney and his father/coach Invoice Haney knew that Garcia’s solely actual weapon was the left hand, why did Devin look so totally unprepared for it– even when it was thrown extensive and sloppy?
Haney could have quite a bit to deal with internally as he picks up his profession and strikes on (I query whether or not he’ll push to make a rematch, even when there’s huge cash in doing so). He’s nonetheless WBC junior welterweight champ, since Garcia missed the 140 lb. restrict by three-and-a-quarter kilos, however he’ll should take a full step again when it comes to the sorts of fights he desires to be having.
Garcia, in the meantime, has been enabled and inspired to maintain being who he’s, whether or not we see that pretty much as good, dangerous, foolish, corny, frustratingly dumb, or bat-shit loopy.
As I wrote on social media through the week, all the things about Ryan Garcia screams of phoniness– besides that left hand. However, in the end, all he wanted was a number of left fingers to win this battle.
When the mud clears and the numbers begin leaking out, I think that jaded boxing individuals can be very shocked at simply how profitable a manic Ryan Garcia was in pushing the gross sales of this occasion along with his continuous social media meltdowns and cringey teen-like angst. In a boxing world the place promoters don’t actually promote past press releases and press conferences for media, a lesson or two may very well be realized on the subject of utilizing social media to drive your occasion immediately into the collective consciousness of the general public.
None of that is to say that Garcia did any of what he did with a advertising plan in thoughts. The child is a 14-year-old in a 25-year-old physique with a raging case of entitlement, a self-admitted case of ADD, and direct entry to tens of millions of individuals through social media. He did what comes naturally for somebody along with his property and points. Within the non-boxing world, there are an appallingly massive variety of “influencers” who do the very same shit, and worse. Within the youtube/social media offshoot of the leisure trade, the place garnering consideration immediately interprets into cash, there’s an limitless military of jackasses leaping up and all the way down to get everybody’s consideration, whether or not they have a product to promote or not.
In Garcia’s case, he DOES have a product to promote and we’re going to search out out that his antics bought it properly.
All of that is new for boxing, which is perpetually gradual to embrace change and seize at new concepts. However, in “King Ry,” we could also be seeing the game’s first new age celebrity within the age of social media. That concept – and all the things that goes with promoting fights to next-generation fans– might show to be extraordinarily distasteful for boxing old-timers and “purists” who’ve mastered the artwork of pearl clutching on the periphery of a blood sport. However, oh properly.
Prefer it or not, we’re caught with Ryan Garcia.
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