Eddie Hearn believes Devin Haney is having a rough time following an overturned defeat by Ryan Garcia.
Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) maintained his unbeaten record despite initially suffering a 12-round majority decision loss to Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) in a WBC junior-welterweight title defense. Garcia tested positive for Ostarine, a performance-enhancing drug, in tests conducted by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association. Despite maintaining his innocence, Garcia was banned for a year by the New York State Athletic Commission, and the result of their fight was changed to a no contest.
Haney, 25, is yet to reveal plans regarding a potential return to the ring, and Matchroom’s Hearn, his promoter for the fights with Regis Prograis and Garcia, told All The Smoke Fight: “I think he’s taking it rough, honestly. Like, you know It’s a tough one.
“And, again, because of what he went through physically in that fight, and, also, the world that we live in is so crazy now, he’s getting criticized. People are going, ‘You’re making excuses’. It’s like, woah. Hang on a minute. I lost to the guy.
“He came in heavy. He was positive for PEDS on the night. Like, I think people should actually feel sorry for Devin. Do you know what I mean?”
San Francisco’s Haney was knocked down in rounds seven, 10, and 11 before losing 114-110, 115-109, and 112-112 on the judges’ scorecards. Although Hearn recognised that Haney had performed poorly against Garcia, he said that the former unified lightweight champion proved a lot.
“Regardless of the performance, which was poor, he went through a lot of that – because that’s probably one of the things we didn’t know about Devin,” the promoter said. “We [already] know he’s well-schooled. We know he’s got a great jab. We know he’s got a good IQ.”
Garcia blamed contamination from a tainted supplement as the reason for his positive test results, but Hearn said: “He says he never intentionally took any drug but it was contamination. But if it wasn’t contamination, I believe he’s probably taken that to try and help him make weight for the fight [Garcia weighed in at more that 143lbs].
“He’s now got 12 months, which he probably needs, but only if he uses that 12 months in the right way.”
Bernard Neequaye is a sports journalist with a specialty in boxing coverage. He wrote a boxing column titled “From The Ringside” in his native Ghana for years. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) at @BernardNeequaye, LinkedIn at Bernard Neequaye and through email at [email protected].
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