Ryan Garcia 25-1 (20) believes he was robbed of a knockout victory over WBC junior welterweight champion Devin Haney 31-1 (15) by referee Harvey Dock.
The 25-year-old Garcia dropped Haney, also 25, three times in their bout at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday night before winning by majority decision.
The lethal left hook of the Los Angelan did the damage, rewarding him with a victory by scores of 112-112, 114-110 and 115-109.
The first time former undisputed lightweight champion Haney of San Francisco went down was early in the seventh round. Garcia swarmed the injured Haney before referee Dock stepped in to warn him for hitting on the break and deducting a point for the infringement.
The pause in the action gave Haney precious seconds to clear his head. Garcia says without Dock’s intervention, Haney would not have survived the round.
“Is this going to be the moment I stop him?” Garcia said of the pivotal moment in the fight.
“I shouldn’t have put too much pressure on myself to stop him because every time I hurt him, I just went crazy and I just couldn’t finish him.
“Harvey Dock was tripping – he should have stopped that fight. It was bad. He was really hurt. I even looked at Bill [Haney, Devin’s father, trainer and manager] in the 11th round. ‘Bro, you probably should stop this.’ But he didn’t and that’s it.
“He was holding me for dear life and I felt an opportunity to keep swinging while my hands were free. And I cracked him and he took a point away when I cracked him. But he held me; I should have knocked him out in that seventh round. They stole that from me.
“He got wobbled bad. I’m surprised he has such good recovery. I cracked him in the first round. I thought, ‘I won’. Easy work. Then he came out firing in the second – he even hit me with the hook and I was like, damn, maybe you do got a little power.”
Trainer Derrick James, who had to deal with Garcia’s erratic behaviour throughout camp, felt vindicated by the result.
“I feel accomplished,” he said. “I feel like I did my job. And that’s what it’s all about.
“I think it would have to be the most satisfying [win of my training career]. You know what? I’m going to say it was great, because I don’t want to put anyone’s situation over anyone else.”
He added: “For me to get to this level, I did it myself. A Hall of Fame trainer didn’t teach me. Nobody taught me anything. I pushed myself to this level. I’m an underdog anyway. Even now, the level that I’m on, they’re still counting me out.”
