Devin Haney is still upset about his loss to Ryan Garcia last April. Haney posts nonstop on X, responding to promoter Eddie Hearn’s apparent defense of superstar Ryan (24-1, 20 KOs) by saying he took the banned substance Ostarine solely to lose weight for the fight. Andre Ward believes the same.
Persistent obsession
Hearn believes 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, turning him into a babbling, broken shell still trying to understand what happened to him.
Ryan, 26, was 3.2 pounds overweight for the fight, at 143.2 pounds, and Hearn feels he tried to make his weight at the last possible moment.
Hearn expressed his opinion on Ryan’s positive test, which seems to bother Haney. He believes that if Ryan had taken Ostarine to gain weight, he would have tested positive in earlier tests.
Haney is still very focused on Ryan’s positive test and seems like someone who is still reeling from his loss. It’s been four months and he’s still talking about it instead of pushing for a rematch to redeem himself or talking about fighting other top fighters.
Fans don’t understand why Haney is still crying over Ryan’s positive test because it sounds like he’s trying to erase the loss from their minds by constantly pointing out that he tested positive. That’s not going to work.
A loss that cannot be erased
The New York Commission overturned Haney’s loss and declared it a no-contest, but that didn’t change the fans’ minds. What they saw was Haney being repeatedly thrown to the ground and beaten by Ryan. At the end of the fight, Haney’s face was badly swollen and he had lost.
“I would believe it was related to the weight cut,” promoter Eddie Hearn told YouTube channel All the Smoke, speaking about Ryan Garcia’s positive Ostarine test for his April 20 fight against Haney. “I believe he took that to make weight for the fight.”
Andre Ward: “That’s what I believe. He (Ryan) was doing tests the week before the fight and the night of the fight. You don’t start taking things the week before the fight and the night of the fight. The way he showed up in New York and the amount of weight he was over. I think someone said, ‘Take this.’ Some kind of diuretic, and he didn’t do his research, and it paid off, and he’s responsible for that.
“You know Ryan had the chance to go to court and prove his innocence, but instead he’s taking a two-year suspension,” Caleb Plant said on Fight Hub TV’s YouTube channel.
Devin Haney: “Let’s just assume that’s the case. Then why hasn’t he reached his weight?”
During his career, Ryan had never tested positive and he had knocked out many fighters, some with better chins than Haney. The left hook that Ryan repeatedly used to hurt Haney during the fight would likely have done the same to him had he not tested positive for Ostarine.
The struggle that haunts Haney
“Devin is a great fighter. I’ve never seen anyone go down so hard and then go right back to work. He got to the count of eight and went right back to work like nothing happened. Devin got up and seemed cool, calm and collected and went right back to work,” Caleb Plant said of Haney on the Fight Hub TV YouTube channel, neglecting to mention that he clinched nonstop after being knocked down by Ryan in the seventh round.
It sounds like former super middleweight champion Plant didn’t see the Haney-Garcia fight, because Haney didn’t get up after the punch and immediately started fighting. When Haney got back up after the first knockdown in the seventh round, he clinched nonstop and didn’t let go.
That’s why Ryan was so angry with him at the break. The referee should have penalized Haney for his hold in the seventh round because that was beyond excessive.
“It’s not right that Ryan competed overweight and tested positive. You can kill a man like that. I don’t like cheaters. A lot of fans are on the side of the man who cheated and competed overweight, and not the man who risked everything. He kept getting back up after one knockdown after another.
