Why Devin Haney is still champion despite suffering stunning majority decision defeat against Ryan Garcia

Ryan Garcia stunned the boxing world when he defeated Devin Haney by majority decision in Brooklyn.

The California native turned in a dominant performance, including three knockdowns of the WBC junior welterweight champion.

It was an outcome that almost no one had anticipated. Haney has been nearly untouchable throughout his professional career, which had 31 wins and no losses until this fight.

Add to that Garcia’s pre-fight issues and it seemed like a perfect storm for another Haney win.

But as some might have expected, it was a chaotic event with a surprise ending, but one that could be largely inconsequential as Haney still left the Barclays Center with his WBC junior welterweight title in tow.

Devin Haney suffered three knockdowns during the fight

It was a frustrating night for Haney, who suffered his first career loss

It will be a real source of frustration for fight fans and you could also imagine Garcia being crowned champion through no fault of his own.

At the pre-fight press conference there were already concerns about ‘King Ryan’s’ weight, but he tried to allay those fears by promising his opponent that he would pay him $500,000 for every pound he was over the weight limit.

At Friday’s weigh-ins, those who worried about whether the challenger would make weight would be proven right.

He would miss the 140-pound weight limit by coming in at 143.2 pounds and being 3.2 pounds overweight.

That meant that not only would he pay Devin Haney $1.5 million based on their bet at the press conference, but Garcia would forfeit his chance at winning the title.

It seemed to be an issue that the potential challenger seemed completely unconcerned with as he joked about the missed weight on Twitter.

He tweeted: ‘I don’t know. 3 pounds is nothing, stop crying. I feel great and I have a 3 pound advantage.

‘Let’s go hahahahaa Winners do what they have to do, I’m still on my toes.’

Ryan Garcia weighed in at 143.2 pounds, a whopping 3.2 pounds over the agreed upon weight limit, losing his title shot

And a winner Garcia was after the majority decision with one judge scoring the fight 112-112, but he was overruled by the other judges’ scorecards of 114-110 and 115-109.

Devin Haney will obviously be disappointed with the result, but he will still go home to regroup with his world championship.

How Ryan Garcia defeated Devin Haney

Ryan Garcia took the win after the three judges scored: 112-112, 115-109, 114-110

It was a chaotic evening with the DJ starting to blare music and a cameraman climbing between the ropes with a minute to go in round seven when referee Harvey Dock started to lose control.

Bedlam had broken out at Barclays Center. Just as many predicted. In round seven, Haney was on the ground and no one – not the cameraman, not the DJ – seemed quite sure what was happening. By round 11, Haney had hit the deck again and Garcia was celebrating atop the turnbuckle.

As the final bell approached, Garcia shuffled his shoulders, shook his knees and flashed his tongue at Haney. He had secured three knockdowns, seen a few more waved away and had a point deducted by the referee. The pro-Haney crowd had changed their allegiance. And yet? The uncertainty lingered.

This is boxing and this was a crazy fight as Garcia only fought in sparse, devastating bursts. All this made the scorecards difficult to predict. Amidst the chaos, there was plenty of chess playing, while Haney seemed to be in control, but not much happened at all.

In the end, one judge couldn’t separate them, but the other two had Garcia ahead of Garcia by four points and six points. After a promotion that left a stain on boxing, these two brought a glorious reminder of the best of boxing.