Devin Haney is still worked up over his loss to Ryan Garcia last April. Haney has been reposting nonstop on X, reacting to promoter Eddie Hearn’s seeming defense of the superstar Ryan (24-1, 20 KOs) by saying that he used the banned substance Ostarine strictly to help him cut weight for the fight. Andre Ward believes the same thing.
Lingering Obsession
Hearn thinks the former two-division world champion Haney is “psychologically” and “emotionally” traumatized by his loss to Ryan Garcia. In other words, Haney’s loss to Ryan may have permanently ruined him, leaving him a babbling broken shell, still trying to make sense of what happened to him.
Ryan, 26, came in 3.2 lbs overweight at 143.2 lbs for the fight, and Hearn feels that he was trying to make weight at the last possible moment.
Hearn gave his thoughts on Ryan’s positive test, which seems to bother Haney. He feels that if Ryan had been using Ostarine to gain, he would have been popped in earlier tests.
Haney is still focusing a lot on Ryan’s positive test and comes across as someone who still haunts his loss. It’s been four months, and he’s still talking about it rather than pushing for a rematch to redeem himself or discussing fights against other top fighters.
Fans don’t understand why Haney is still crying about Ryan’s positive test because it makes it sound like he’s trying to erase the loss in their minds by constantly pointing out that he tested positive. It’s not going to work.
A Loss that Can’t Be Erased
The New York Commission overturned Haney’s loss, making it a no-contest, but that has failed to change the fans’ minds. They saw what they saw: Haney getting repeatedly dropped by Ryan and beaten up. At the end of the fight, Haney’s face was badly swollen, and he’d lost.
“It would leave me to believe that it was in relation to the weight cut,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to the All the Smoke YouTube channel, talking about Ryan Garcia testing positive for Ostarine for his fight against Haney on April 20th. “I believe he took that to try and make weight for the fight.”
Andre Ward: “That’s what I believe. He [Ryan] tested the week of the fight and the night of the fight. You don’t start taking things the week of the fight and the night of the fight. How he showed up in New York, and how much weight he was over. I believe somebody said, ‘Take this.’ Some form of diuretic, and he didn’t do his research, and he popped, and he’s responsible for it.
“You know Ryan had his chance to be able to take it to court and prove himself innocent. But instead, he’d rather take a two-year ban,” said Caleb Plant on the Fight Hub TV YouTube channel.
Devin Haney: “Let’s just say that is the case. Why didn’t he make weight then?”
During his career, Ryan had never tested positive before, and he’d knocked out many fighters, some with a better chin than Haney. The left hook that Ryan repeatedly hurt Haney with during the fight would likely do the same thing to him if he hadn’t tested positive for Ostarine.
The Fight that Haunts Haney
“Devin is a great fighter. I haven’t seen somebody that would get dropped hard like that and go right back to work. He took his eight count and got right back to work, as if nothing happened. Devin would get up and seem cool, calm, and composed and get right back to work,” Caleb Plant said to the Fight Hub TV YouTube channel about Haney, failing to mention that he was clinching nonstop after getting dropped in the seventh round by Ryan.
It sounds like the former super middleweight champion Plant didn’t watch the Haney-Garcia fight because Haney did not get up after being dropped and immediately started fighting. When Haney got up from the first knockdown in the seventh, he was clinching nonstop, and he wouldn’t let go.
That’s why Ryan got frustrated at him on the break. The referee should have penalized Haney for his holding in the seventh because it was beyond excessive.
“With Ryan coming in overweight and testing positive, it’s not right. You can kill a man like that. I don’t like cheaters. Quite a few fans are taking the side of the man that cheated and came in overweight over the guy that put it on the line. He kept getting up after knockdown after knockdown.
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