Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney are expected to weigh in the mid-160s for tonight's match at the DAZN PPV at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Ryan chose to fight with fire by bulking up to the mid-160s to have a chance against the naturally larger Haney, who some believe should be a fight at junior middleweight.
Haney: Master of size advantage
Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) typically weighs around 165 pounds. This is because he is considered a fighter who has long made a habit of fighting in weight classes below his size. Devin uses extreme weight manipulation to gain an advantage over his opponents.
Reluctant to fight in a weight class suited to his larger size, Haney depleted himself to 135 and 140 to fight smaller opponents, then rehydrated to gain the advantage of his larger size, allowing himself to be has built a wonderful career.
The difference in this match is that Ryan chose to use the same tactics with a much heavier attack than usual. Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) has packed on a lot of weight for this fight in what some believe is a strategy to match the size of the hulking Haney, but at 140 lbs. At yesterday's weigh-in, he paid the price for competing at a weight that exceeded his limit of 143.2 pounds.
Interestingly, Ryan has stated that the purpose of this fight is to win, not to win the WBC light welterweight title, and that he is not concerned about the weight he lost, but that doesn't bother him. . For Ryan, the objective in this fight is to win, and he doesn't care about Haney's WBC strap.
Some believe Ryan's decision to move up to the 160s slows him down and reduces his chances of winning. On the other hand, if Ryan hadn't bulked up, he would have given Haney, a super middleweight over 165, 10 to 15 pounds tonight and would have had little chance of winning.
It's understandable why Ryan chose to bulk up, fly and gain weight. Because he has no chance of defeating a fighter as heavy as Haney unless he uses the same sneaky black hat tricks that Devin uses to win by being much bigger than his opponents.
A call for change
Ideally, the WBC would follow suit with the IBF and institute a strict 10-pound fluid limit to prevent fighters like Haney from using their size to take advantage of smaller opponents. That way things would be more fair and players like Ryan Garcia wouldn't have to use the same tactics to have a chance to win.
Boxing expert Teddy Atlas wrote on Stephen A. Smith's YouTube channel about the Devin Haney vs. Ryan Garcia fight, saying, “I would like to thank the New York State Athletic Commissioner for allowing this fight to continue without proper evaluation. The association should be ashamed.”
“There's something wrong with him posting so many posts that seem like he's crying out for help,” Atlas continued about Ryan. “I don’t see how the committee would sanction this, given all the evidence of his actions over the past two months.
