Ryan Garcia was as high as a 9-1 underdog in the final days before his bout with Devin Haney on Saturday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, before it closed at just under 6-1.
A massive favorite and supposedly the better boxer, Haney could never find a solution for Garcia's blistering left hook and wound up losing a majority decision to Garcia by scores of 115-110, 114-110 and 112-112. Garcia dropped Haney three times, hurt him numerous others and controlled the back half of the fight to get the biggest win of his career.
That of course led to plenty of gloating at the post-fight news conference and assertions that Garcia is both a pound-for-pound fighter and the biggest star in boxing.
Garcia's pre-fight behavior was odd but he was able to fight at his normal high level because of it. But he didn't sell out the arena, and the pay-per-view results will tell the story of whether or not he is the biggest star in the sport.
That being said, it was a good day for boxing because not only was the main event a highly entertaining fight, Garcia is popular and commands a lot of interest. Boxing is a sport that thrives on stars, and despite the often strange behavior he exhibited before the fight, Garcia is someone people want to see again.
SportsBetting.ag made lines on three potential Garcia fights: Rematches with Haney and Gervonta Davis, who stopped Garcia in the seventh in 2023, and a welterweight bout with Connor Benn.
| Fight | Odds |
| Ryan Garcia vs Gervonta Davis | |
| Ryan Garcia | +240 |
| Gervonta Davis | -300 |
| Ryan Garcia vs Devin Haney | |
| Ryan Garcia | -115 |
| Devin Haney | -115 |
| Ryan Garcia vs Connor Benn | |
| Ryan Garcia | -375 |
| Connor Benn | +275 |
The fight I would love to see him take if he doesn't rematch Haney is one against Teofimo Lopez, who barely retained his WBO super lightweight title in February in a dull fight with Jamaine Ortiz. That fight stunk not because of Lopez but because of Ortiz's unwillingness to engage even a little. The bout was barely watchable, particularly in the second half.
But Lopez is, like Garcia, a fast-handed aggressive power puncher. That would be a fight that would pit two charismatic power punchers against one another. The promotion would be zany, and that would probably attract attention from sources that usually don't cover boxing.
Garcia said post-fight he can't make 140 pounds any more, but that shouldn't be an issue for Lopez, who has been looking for a fight against welterweight Terence Crawford.
A bout with Isaac "Pitbull" Cruz, who won the WBA super lightweight title last month by knocking out Rollie Romero, would also be wild. The two have had words in the past and Cruz is hot coming off not only a good performance in a loss to Davis but his pummeling of Romero. Cruz's Instagram account jumped up nearly double, to 1.4 million, after his win over Romero.
His manager, Sean Gibbons, said it's a fight he'd be interested in. Gibbon said that after the fight Saturday, Cruz texted him and said, 'The Princess won.'
"He'd definitely be interested [in a fight at 143 or 144] and we're not against 147," Gibbons said. "When you're 40-something already, what's a couple of more pounds? They're real Mexicans. They want to fight and they're not the kind of who are going to worry about a pound or two or something."
Haney deserves the rematch, since he suffered to make the 140-pound limit and went out and participated in a Fight of the Year-type battle despite the fact that his opponent didn't make the same sacrifice.
But if they can't come to terms, bouts with Lopez and Cruz would not only be good box office, but they'd be bombs away in the ring.
Those are the kinds of fights boxing needs more of, and fast.