Ryan Garcia knocked down Devin Haney three times and won their much-anticipated fight by majority decision Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Garcia, a heavy underdog, rocked Haney with his patented left hook on each of the knockdowns in their 12-round super lightweight fight.
“He caught me early but I was sleeping on it. Caught me by surprise,” said Haney, who suffered his first defeat.
Haney seemed in control for a portion of the fight. But when Garcia went on the attack, he unloaded punches that caught Haney ill-prepared or Haney was simply ill-equipped.
And by the end, Garcia had the crowd chanting his name.
“Ry-an! Ry-an!’’
Garcia’s stunning victory came after months of erratic behavior and outlandish claims, such as he’d conjured up demons.
“Come on guys, you really thought I was crazy?’’ Garcia bellowed during his in-ring interview after the fight. “You guys lost your own mind,” he told the cheering crowd.
Garcia scored knockdowns in the seventh, 10th and 11th rounds with his left hook. He landed that vicious punch in the first round and rocked Haney.
“I just knew I had control after that,’’ Garcia said. “It’s hard to recover from big shots. You know, maybe my conditioning wasn’t my best, but at the end of the day I got the job done.’’
Garcia improved to 25-1 and Haney fell to 31-1.
Why was Ryan Garcia turning his back?
Garcia repeatedly turned his back to Haney, especially in the corners, in what looked like a defensive…
