Devin Haney to retain WBC world title despite losing to Ryan Garcia

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Despite absorbing his first-ever professional boxing loss at the hands of Ryan Garcia on April 21, 2024, Devin Haney will remain as the World Boxing Council (WBC) super lightweight champion.

According to the WBC headed by President Mauricio Sulaiman, Haney will remain as the division’s champion due to Garcia not complying with the official weight.

With the WBC super lightweight weight limit set at 140 pounds, Garcia during the weight-in ceremony came in at 143.2 pounds, making him 3.2 pounds heavier.

Garcia’s overweight result made him ineligible to win the WBC belt despite pulling off the win but will retain his win record in his overall win-loss sheet.

“Congratulations to Ryan Garcia defying all obstacles and winning a huge fight. Congratulations to Devin Haney for showing his huge heart and class. Just as Corrales vs Castillo 2, with the challenger not making weight, Haney remains WBC champion,” posted Sulaiman on his official social media account.

If Haney decides to keep the belt and stay in the super lightweight division, he will be facing the mandatory challenger lined up by the WBC for him, Sandor Martin from Spain.

During their mega bout two days ago, Garcia earned a majority decision victory over Haney after two judges scored it 114-110, 115-109, while the other scored a tie, 112-112.

It was perhaps Garcia’s biggest professional boxing win so far in his young career and bounced back big time after suffering a demoralizing loss to Gervonta “Tank” Davis last year.

Garcia was in the zone from the get-go, unleashing his signature snappy jabs that kept on landing at will to Haney’s jaw.

The flashy boxer capped off his dominant win three scored knockdowns, one in the seventh round, and the other two in the 10th and the 11th.

With the win, Garcia just improved his record to 25 wins, 20 knockouts, and a loss, while Haney dropped to 31 wins, 15 knockouts, and a loss.