Bill Haney regrets not being stricter with the rules before the fight with Ryan Garcia
Bill Haney is still coming to terms with seeing his son lose to Ryan Garcia in mid-April and has now revealed that he has some regrets about the game plan he gave to Devin for the fight.
Garcia shocked the world on fight night after a tumultuous build-up that had many people questioning the state of his mental health. Straight out of the blocks, he shook Haney with a left hook in the very first round, then proceeded to put him down three times on his way to a majority points win after the full 12 rounds in Brooklyn.
Garcia weighed in 3.2lbs over the super-lightweight limit so was ineligible to win the WBC world title, and Haney Sr. has confessed to Boxing Scene that he regrets not insisting that Garcia was forced to lose that last weight before the fight.
“That’s calculated. That’s cheating. It’s a victory [for us] within itself. We went against everything that’s wrong with boxing. [Devin] followed the rules. Got knocked down. Got up again and again, and fought like the champion he still is. He proved he was a warrior, and now life goes on.”
Haney Sr. has admitted that there have not yet been any conversations about whether or not his son will make changes to his training team and added that their faith has helped them during this tricky time.
“Life is not about regrets – Allah’s the perfect planner, [so the bout playing out as it did] was a chance to see what [Devin] was made of. It’s only been a week. I hope Devin can take this time and be a 25-year-old who’s just coming out of a world-stopping event, to observe the 30 days of Ramadan he’s missed. He’ll come out of that in a good space, and whatever decision he makes, I’m sure it will be the best decision of his life. This is his decision and his decision only.”