Former super middleweight champion David Benavidez claims the weight advantage that Ryan Garcia helped fuel his upset victory over Devin Haney last Saturday night.
Benavidez says the three extra pounds that Ryan Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs) weighed at last Friday’s weigh-in helped him defeat the previously unbeaten WBC light welterweight champion Haney (31-1, 15 KOs) by a 12-round majority decision in their fight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Weight Manipulation: Boxing’s Dirty Little Secret
Haney has a history of looking much bigger than his opponents after rehydrating, and his recent absurd 165-lb weight for his title challenge to WBC 140-lb champion Regis Prograis last December was viewed by fans as an example of a fighter gaming the system to have a tremendous size advantage over his opponent.
Fans are still fuming about Haney’s rehydrated weight for the Prograis fight. Would Haney have captured the WBC belt without his 165-lb weight? I think he wouldn’t, but oh well.
The World Boxing Council doesn’t have strict rehydration rules like the IBF, so some fighters use weight manipulation to their advantage in sanctioned WBC fights.
“I think those three pounds helped a lot, especially that he didn’t try to make the weight. He did look like the bigger man that day,” said David Benavidez to the Sean Zittel YouTube channel, about his belief that Ryan Garcia’s win was aided by him coming in 3.2 lbs overweight at the weigh-in for his fight against Devin Haney.
Benavidez: The OG Weight Bully?
It’s a bit rich that Benavidez would be the one talking about weight, given that many fans view him as being a textbook version of a weight bully at super middleweight. Some fans see Benavidez as a cruiserweight who melts down to 168 to have a weight advantage over his opposition at rehydration.
“I think Ryan looked like the bigger man that day, and I think overall all the antics that Ryan Garcia was doing through the while training camp, I didn’t think he was going to look like that. I thought he was messing around throughout his whole training camp,” said Benavidez.
“Those three extra pounds really do help a lot, especially when there was no rehydration clause. He [Ryan Garcia] definitely was heavier,” said Benavidez.
Garcia’s Tainted Win, Boxing’s Bigger Problem
With Haney, promoter Eddie Hearn, and now Benavidez talking about Ryan’s weight, his victory is tainted. However, it’s the pot calling the kettle black with Haney and Benavidez calling Ryan out for being overweight when they come into their fights looking two to three divisions heavier than their weigh-in weight.
The real problem is the weight class system, which needs fixing. Stricter regulations need to be put in place to prevent fighters from taking advantage of the situation by rehydrating enormous amounts of weight to use their size to win.
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