Culture
Ryan Garcia stuns boxing world, defeats Devin Haney
Ryan Garcia spent the last three months leaving analysts and pundits far more concerned for his personal well-being than impressed with his boxing prowess.
With a handful of explosive left hooks, he reminded the boxing world why he’s “King Ryan,” defeating WBC super lightweight champ Devin Haney by majority decision on Saturday night in what may have already wrapped up the discussion of the best bout of 2024.
“Come on y’all, you really thought I was crazy?” Garcia yelled after the win.
Sweet Chin Music 🎶
Here are all 3 knockdowns @RyanGarcia delivered to @Realdevinhaney to secure the win.#HaneyGarcia pic.twitter.com/18obAwynEE
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) April 21, 2024
Haney entered the night as the heavy favorite, the king of multiple weight classes and an untouched record. He exited the night with a dented legacy.
Garcia’s readiness showed immediately in the first minute of the first round, as he rocked Haney with a pair of explosive left hooks to wake the crowd up. He won the opening round with ease, landing nine power punches.
From there, Haney gained the upper hand with an adjustment to ramp up the pace and keep the pressure on Garcia. Haney’s peppering jabs kept Garcia on his back foot and it appeared the champion was on his way to a straightforward defense against the enigmatic powerhouse.
And then the seventh round came.
With a similar opening-round burst that he displayed in the first, Garcia’s power connected thunderously, this time wowing the crowd by flooring Haney with a hook, handing Haney the first knockdown of his career. A stunned Haney beat the count, but was caught again and again and again as Garcia unleashed the power that rose him to prominence.
But the round turned utterly chaotic soon after, as Garcia was deducted a point for punching on a break as Haney’s legs wobbled like jelly. After fielding months of concerns about his mental wellbeing, a midfight mental lapse was threatening to ruin his momentum.
Garcia bided his time in the eighth and ninth rounds before proving in the 10th that his bursts were far more than adrenaline dumps. “King Ryan” again knocked Haney down, swinging the bout entirely in his favor and making an impossibility suddenly seem realistic.
If that wasn’t enough, Garcia smashed a cherry on top in the 11th round with a third knockdown, drilling Haney with yet another left hook that put the champ back down on the mat and sent Barclays Center into pandemonium.
While Haney rose to his feet and beat the count for a third time, the night was clearly over for the stupefied champ, and Garcia closed the conclusive 12th round by jumping on the corner ropes to soak up the praise of a bewildered crowd after the fight of his life.
FEAR THE KING pic.twitter.com/pogoQxoxXb
— RYAN GARCIA (@RyanGarcia) April 21, 2024
“I would love to rematch, I gave him a shot and I’ll take a shot right back,” Haney said after the loss.
After weighing in 3.2 pounds over the pair’s agreed-upon limit of 140 pounds, Garcia was ineligible to win Haney’s super lightweight title, but that strap may be the only piece of dignity Haney left Brooklyn with.
Garcia entered the night with simply a puncher’s chance, which was a far cry from his days of riding his explosive style into becoming a household name just a few years earlier.
The social media sensation looked like the in-ring real deal as he topped Luke Campbell to earn the WBC interim lightweight title in 2021 and had the potential to become the future face of the sport in the post-Mayweather era, but then saw that hype get snuffed out after losing his undefeated mark in a superfight with fellow phenom Gervonta “Tank” Davis in February 2023.
In that bout, Garcia was first knocked down in the second round, then was floored again by Davis in the seventh round by a brutal body shot. Garcia failed to beat the 10-count, resulting in his first career loss, and was later criticized for quitting, as he rose shortly after the bell rang.
He next took on Oscar Duarte in September and struggled initially with the inferior fighter, and was belted with boos from the Houston crowd before bouncing back with an eighth-round knockout. After fighting at 140 pounds in 2022, Garcia fell to Davis after agreeing to a catchweight of 136 pounds, then he struggled to beat Duarte — a career 135-pounder — at 143 pounds.
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Those scales caused Garcia far more trouble against Haney. On Friday night, Garcia weighed in at 143.2 points and opted to strike a revised deal to keep the fight on rather than try to lose the extra weight. Under the revised deal, Garcia lost $600,000 of his purse and was ineligible to win the super lightweight title.
In a show of boisterous indifference, Garcia later Friday came out to the ceremonial weigh-in chugging a beer and yelling at Haney amid a heated faceoff.
On Thursday, Haney predicted Garcia would miss weight, and asked Garcia to pay him $500,000 per pound missed. A Golden Boy Promotions statement Friday said Garcia will “honor the handshake made at the final press conference yesterday.”
But Friday night’s debacle came as a scant surprise to anyone who has followed Garcia’s social media posts in the buildup to this fight, making Saturday night’s result even more bewildering.
In recent months, Garcia has claimed he was kidnapped by the Illuminati, accused Logan Paul of worshipping Satan, tossed out accusations about Haney’s father, said he was under spiritual attack, said he has proof of alien existence and called Elon Musk the Antichrist, among a slew of other concerning claims and allegations online and in podcast appearances.
Garcia also announced the birth of his second child and his divorce from his wife on the same day in January. In March, Garcia accused Haney of using banned substances, said he was going to bite Haney’s ears off, then later tweeted, “My intention is to Kill Devil Haney.”
All of those antics shrouded both his and Haney’s boxing ascension in the buildup to Saturday night.
With the loss, Haney is 32-1 and his case for being considered among the world’s best pound-for-pound boxers alongside with the likes of Terence Crawford and Canelo Alvarez is crushed.
In 2022, Haney defeated George Kambosos Jr. in a lightweight title unification match to become the first undisputed lightweight champion since Pernell Whitaker in 1990, and the first in the four-belt era. In December, Haney moved up to super lightweight to battle champion Regis Prograis, whom Haney dominated with a masterclass performance to become a two-division champ.
Prior to Saturday night’s stunner, a rematch bout between Haney and Vasiliy Lomachenko, whom Haney defeated in a thrilling fight last May to defend his lightweight title, was thought to be in the champion’s future, as Haney’s unanimous decision victory was disputed by many.
But now, a rematch bout with Garcia ought to be Haney’s next order of business as he attempts to get his career back on track. Saturday night’s defeat revealed plenty of holes in Haney’s game, and left the champion with serious questions about the fortitude of his chin and the legitimacy of his previously untarnished record.
In the hours after his win, Garcia was right back on social media, arguing that the ref should have stopped the bout in the seventh round and clowning Haney for losing to him.
“I know people are so mad,” Garcia posted on X with a pair of crying emojis. “Imagine just imagine a guy that trolled non stop Beats a p4p fighter and then is just chilling bruh that’s hilarious Muhhahahahahaha.”
In the co-main event, underdog Sean McComb was seemingly robbed by the judges as he fell by split decision to Arnold Barboza Jr., who remains undefeated. McComb appeared to dictate the pace of the bout with his slippery defense and unreachable length, while also outlanding Barboza, per the broadcast statistics.
Barboza put together enough momentum in the final frames to squeak out the victory, but wore the story of the bout on his bruised face. The first announced judging scorecard read 98-92 for McComb, but the next scorecard shockingly read 97-93 Barboza. The final scorecard gave Barboza the edge and the bout with a score of 96-94, but there wasn’t a peep of celebration from the favorite.
In the postfight interview, Barboza said he wasn’t surprised by the results, but the crowd voiced their dissenting opinion with a chorus of boos.
Barboza entered the night tabbed as the replacement fighter in the main event if Garcia didn’t show up and with an eye on a future headlining fight with Shakur Stevenson. Barboza may have exited with his perfect record intact, but also with bruised cheek and a blemished reputation.
Required reading
(Photo: Al Bello / Getty Images)
new video loaded: 250 Years of Jane Austen, in Objects
By Jennifer Harlan, Sadie Stein, Claire Hogan, Laura Salaberry and Edward Vega
December 18, 2025
“Window seat with garden view / A perfect nook to read a book / I’m lost in my Jane Austen…” sings Kristin Chenoweth in “The Girl in 14G” — what could be more ideal? Well, perhaps showing off your literary knowledge and getting a perfect score on this week’s super-size Book Review Quiz Bowl honoring the life, work and global influence of Jane Austen, who turns 250 today. In the 12 questions below, tap or click your answers to the questions. And no matter how you do, scroll on to the end, where you’ll find links to free e-book versions of her novels — and more.
On Dec. 16, 1775, a girl was born in Steventon, England — the seventh of eight children — to a clergyman and his wife. She was an avid reader, never married and died in 1817, at the age of 41. But in just those few decades, Jane Austen changed the world.
Her novels have had an outsize influence in the centuries since her death. Not only are the books themselves beloved — as sharply observed portraits of British society, revolutionary narrative projects and deliciously satisfying romances — but the stories she created have so permeated culture that people around the world care deeply about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, even if they’ve never actually read “Pride and Prejudice.”
With her 250th birthday this year, the Austen Industrial Complex has kicked into high gear with festivals, parades, museum exhibits, concerts and all manner of merch, ranging from the classily apt to the flamboyantly absurd. The words “Jane mania” have been used; so has “exh-Aust-ion.”
How to capture this brief life, and the blazing impact that has spread across the globe in her wake? Without further ado: a mere sampling of the wealth, wonder and weirdness Austen has brought to our lives. After all, your semiquincentennial doesn’t come around every day.
By ‘A Lady’
Austen published just four novels in her lifetime: “Sense and Sensibility” (1811), “Pride and Prejudice” (1813), “Mansfield Park” (1814) and “Emma” (1815). All of them were published anonymously, with the author credited simply as “A Lady.” (If you’re in New York, you can see this first edition for yourself at the Grolier Club through Feb. 14.)
Where the Magic Happened
Placed near a window for light, this diminutive walnut table was, according to family lore, where the author did much of her writing. It is now in the possession of the Jane Austen Society.
An Iconic Accessory
Few of Austen’s personal artifacts remain, contributing to the author’s mystique. One of them is this turquoise ring, which passed to her sister-in-law and then her niece after her death. In 2012, the ring was put up for auction and bought by the “American Idol” champion Kelly Clarkson. This caused quite a stir in England; British officials were loath to let such an important cultural artifact leave the country’s borders. Jane Austen’s House, the museum now based in the writer’s Hampshire home, launched a crowdfunding campaign to Bring the Ring Home and bought the piece from Clarkson. The real ring now lives at the museum; the singer has a replica.
Austen Onscreen
Since 1940, when Austen had a bit of a moment and Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier starred in MGM’s rather liberally reinterpreted “Pride and Prejudice,” there have been more than 20 international adaptations of Austen’s work made for film and TV (to say nothing of radio). From the sublime (Emma Thompson’s Oscar-winning “Sense and Sensibility”) to the ridiculous (the wholly gratuitous 2022 remake of “Persuasion”), the high waists, flickering firelight and double weddings continue to provide an endless stream of debate fodder — and work for a queen’s regiment of British stars.
Jane Goes X-Rated
The rumors are true: XXX Austen is a thing. “Jane Austen Kama Sutra,” “Pride and Promiscuity: The Lost Sex Scenes of Jane Austen” and enough slash fic and amateur porn to fill Bath’s Assembly Rooms are just the start. Purists may never recover.
A Lady Unmasked
Austen’s final two completed novels, “Northanger Abbey” and “Persuasion,” were published after her death. Her brother Henry, who oversaw their publication, took the opportunity to give his sister the recognition he felt she deserved, revealing the true identity of the “Lady” behind “Pride and Prejudice,” “Emma,” etc. in a biographical note. “The following pages are the production of a pen which has already contributed in no small degree to the entertainment of the public,” he wrote, extolling his sister’s imagination, good humor and love of dancing. Still, “no accumulation of fame would have induced her, had she lived, to affix her name to any productions of her pen.”
Wearable Tributes
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Jane Austen fan wants to find other Jane Austen fans, and what better way to advertise your membership in that all-inclusive club than with a bit of merch — from the subtle and classy to the gloriously obscene.
The Austen Literary Universe
On the page, there is no end to the adventures Austen and her characters have been on. There are Jane Austen mysteries, Jane Austen vampire series, Jane Austen fantasy adventures, Jane Austen Y.A. novels and, of course, Jane Austen romances, which transpose her plots to a remote Maine inn, a Greenwich Village penthouse and the Bay Area Indian American community, to name just a few. You can read about Austen-inspired zombie hunters, time-traveling hockey players, Long Island matchmakers and reality TV stars, or imagine further adventures for some of your favorite characters. (Even the obsequious Mr. Collins gets his day in the sun.)
A Botanical Homage
Created in 2017 to mark the 200th anniversary of Austen’s death, the “Jane Austen” rose is characterized by its intense orange color and light, sweet perfume. It is bushy, healthy and easy to grow.
Aunt Jane
Hoping to cement his beloved aunt’s legacy, Austen’s nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh published this biography — a rather rosy portrait based on interviews with family members — five decades after her death. The book is notable not only as the source (biased though it may be) of many of the scant facts we know about her life, but also for the watercolor portrait by James Andrews that serves as its frontispiece. Based on a sketch by Cassandra, this depiction of Jane is softer and far more winsome than the original: Whether that is due to a lack of skill on her sister’s part or overly enthusiastic artistic license on Andrews’s, this is the version of Austen most familiar to people today.
Cultural Currency
In 2017, the Bank of England released a new 10-pound note featuring Andrews’s portrait of Austen, as well as a line from “Pride and Prejudice”: “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!” Austen is the third woman — other than the queen — to be featured on British currency, and the only one currently in circulation.
In the Trenches
During World War I and World War II, British soldiers were given copies of Austen’s works. In his 1924 story “The Janeites,” Rudyard Kipling invoked the grotesque contrasts — and the strange comfort — to be found in escaping to Austen’s well-ordered world amid the horrors of trench warfare. As one character observes, “There’s no one to touch Jane when you’re in a tight place.”
Baby Janes
You’re never too young to learn to love Austen — or that one’s good opinion, once lost, may be lost forever.
The Austen Industrial Complex
Maybe you’ve not so much as seen a Jane Austen meme, let alone read one of her novels. No matter! Need a Jane Austen finger puppet? Lego? Magnetic poetry set? Lingerie? Nameplate necklace? Plush book pillow? License plate frame? Bath bomb? Socks? Dog sweater? Whiskey glass? Tarot deck? Of course you do! And you’re in luck: What a time to be alive.
Around the Globe
Austen’s novels have been translated into more than 40 languages, including Polish, Finnish, Chinese and Farsi. There are active chapters of the Jane Austen Society, her 21st-century fan club, throughout the world.
Playable Persuasions
In Austen’s era, no afternoon tea was complete without a rousing round of whist, a trick-taking card game played in two teams of two. But should you not be up on your Regency amusements, you can find plenty of contemporary puzzles and games with which to fill a few pleasant hours, whether you’re piecing together her most beloved characters or using your cunning and wiles to land your very own Mr. Darcy.
#SoJaneAusten
The wild power of the internet means that many Austen moments have taken on lives of their own, from Colin Firth’s sopping wet shirt and Matthew Macfadyen’s flexing hand to Mr. Collins’s ode to superlative spuds and Mr. Knightley’s dramatic floor flop. The memes are fun, yes, but they also speak to the universality of Austen’s writing: More than two centuries after her books were published, the characters and stories she created are as relatable as ever.
Bonnets Fit for a Bennett
For this summer’s Grand Regency Costumed Promenade in Bath, England — as well as the myriad picnics, balls, house parties, dinners, luncheons, teas and fetes that marked the anniversary — seamstresses, milliners, mantua makers and costume warehouses did a brisk business, attiring the faithful in authentic Regency finery. And that’s a commitment: A bespoke, historically accurate bonnet can easily run to hundreds of dollars.
Most Ardently, Jane
Austen was prolific correspondent, believed to have written thousands of letters in her lifetime, many to her sister, Cassandra. But in an act that has frustrated biographers for centuries, upon Jane’s death, Cassandra protected her sister’s privacy — and reputation? — by burning almost all of them, leaving only about 160 intact, many heavily redacted. But what survives is filled with pithy one-liners. To wit: “I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.”
Stage and Sensibility
Austen’s works have been adapted numerous times for the stage. Some plays (and musicals) hew closely to the original text, while others — such as Emily Breeze’s comedic riff on “Pride and Prejudice,” “Are the Bennet Girls OK?”, which is running at New York City’s West End Theater through Dec. 21 — use creative license to explore ideas of gender, romance and rage through a contemporary lens.
Austen 101
Austen remains a reliable fount of academic scholarship; recent conference papers have focused on the author’s enduring global reach, the work’s relationship to modern intersectionality, digital humanities and “Jane Austen on the Cheap.” And as one professor told our colleague Sarah Lyall of the Austen amateur scholarship hive, “Woe betide the academic who doesn’t take them seriously.”
W.W.J.D.
When facing problems — of etiquette, romance, domestic or professional turmoil — sometimes the only thing to do is ask: What would Jane do?
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