Devin Haney’s lost night was out of character, out of sorts, out of hope.
All the things that happen when several stiff punches land to the face.
On Monday’s episode of ProBox TV’s “Deep Waters,” the crew including former world champions Chris Algieri and Paulie Malignaggi reflected upon former undisputed lightweight champion Haney’s first loss, at age 25.
“He jabbed really well, and then when he got hurt again [by a seventh-round knockdown], it just went out the window,” Algieri said. “He was squaring up, chasing the puncher. Two things you don’t do: hook with a hooker – and that’s exactly what Devin did throughout – and you don’t chase a puncher.
“It was just a bad game plan, so poorly executed from Team Haney on how to fight a guy like Ryan Garcia.”
Instead of allowing his jab and his overall boxing acumen to shine, Haney (31-1) couldn’t get out of the way of the left-handed power shots of his underdog former amateur rival whose bizarre behavior during the bout’s promotion was capped by Garcia badly missing weight for the WBC 140-pound title fight by 3.2 pounds.
Malignaggi was aghast at how Haney not only got rocked by two Garcia power punches in the first round, but how he deteriorated from the damage of the seventh after he’d impressively jabbed and moved in rounds two through six.
“That fight should have never picked up the pace. Haney should have deadened that fight with that jab and won a quiet fight,” Malignaggi said. “That’s what you’ve got to do.”
Algieri agreed that Garcia “looked totally gassed, almost looked like an old fighter,” in those early rounds before “he let his hands go. He was brilliantly fast and powerful [and] able to catch Haney almost any time he opened up.”
Amid calls for Haney to revert to bringing an established trainer back to lead his corner instead of his father and manager, Bill Haney, Algieri said he was first alarmed by seeing Haney practicing leaping left hooks in his dressing room.
‘Why would you do that? You’ve said [Garcia] is a one-trick pony [with his devastating hook]. Why are you going to give him an opportunity to land it? Very strange,” Algieri said.
Malignaggi said that for the first time in a while Haney was given a startling, up-close look at a young, gifted fighter in his prime after defeating the older likes of Jorge Linares, Vasiliy Lomachenko and Regis Prograis in recent years.
“I still rate him as a good fighter, but people wanted to rate him as a [Floyd] Mayweather, and … he’s not the next Mayweather,” Malignaggi said. “His chin is suspect. He’s not a puncher. [Against Garcia], you’ve got to be clever. This is where you show who you really are.
“[Remember], Mayweather got hurt by [Shane] Mosley. After that, what happened? Mosley didn’t win another second of the fight. Haney got hurt all over the place, abandoned his own jab.”
Where does that lead Haney now? He remains the WBC 140-pound champion in a deep division that counts Teofimo Lopez, Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz and Puerto Rico’s Subriel Matias as fellow champions.
Although each fighter spoke of a rematch in the ring, Garcia said he can’t weigh under 143 pounds any longer, and has mentioned fighting welterweights and even junior-middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora.
“For Devin Haney, I know I’ve gotten a lot of hate for criticizing you in the past. I was 25 years old when I fought Miguel Cotto, and I took a bad beating,” Malignaggi said. “I came back and won two world titles.
“You can be back and you will be back if you believe in yourself. I believe he still can be a [victorious] champion. He’s got to believe in himself after that beating.”
