Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia face off for the first time in the professional ranks at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Saturday night.
The fighters met four times as amateurs, earning two victories each, but their careers have followed different paths since entering the paid ranks.
Haney is a former undisputed lightweight champion who is defending his WBC super lightweight title for the first time while Garcia is fighting for a world title for the first time, despite having previously been an interim titleholder at light weights.
Advice:
- Devin Haney will win by decision or technical decision @ 5/6
- Over 1.5 knockdowns at 2/1 (talkSPORT Boost)
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Defensive expert Haney too skilled for Garcia
Haney takes a defense-focused approach to boxing and is incredibly difficult to pin down. He produced a defensive masterclass against the powerful Régis Prograis in his last fight to claim a comfortable unanimous decision victory and he is likely to take a similar approach against another authoritarian fighter in Garcia.
The Dream is 31-0, but only 15 of those wins have come at distance and he hasn’t had a stoppage success since 2019. Haney’s last eight wins have all been by unanimous decision and he could again needing to gain favor. judges against Garcia.
Garcia is 24-1 and his only loss was a seventh-round TKO loss to Gervonta Davis – but he is a very different type of fighter than Haney.
Davis’ action style and brutal body shots proved too much for Garcia to handle that night, but Haney is a much more measured fighter who credits the “hit and don’t get hit” school of boxing “.
Haney has wins over elite fighters Vasyl Lomachenko and Jorge Linares under his belt and has the skills to win comfortably if he can avoid Garcia’s powerful punches.
Don’t rule out a few reversals
A points win for Haney seems like a solid play, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we won’t see a few upsets along the way and TalkSport Bet’s 2/1 price has risen due to at least two calls.
Haney beat Prograis in the third round of his last fight and he could have similar success in that regard against Garcia, who doesn’t possess a great defense.
King Ry has a more offensive style and 20 of his 24 victories have come from distance. He himself has been dropped several times during his career and managed to get back up, while three of his last five fights (4 wins, 1 loss) have featured at least two knockdowns.
Granted, Haney has never been knocked down, so this bet can rely on The Dream to do the heavy lifting. But Garcia managed to fight back after being sent to the canvas by Davis in the second round and also recovered to win against Luke Campbell earlier in his career. So it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him do the same against Haney, who doesn’t have the same power level as the aforementioned duo.
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