Haney was on complete jelly legs, clinging for dear life. Taking a point from Ryan for hitting on the break without issuing a hard warning first was absurdly harsh in that moment. It halted the entire attack, gave Haney a breather, and let him regroup just as the finishing blow was arriving.

Ryan knows that without Dock stepping in to pause the action and dock that point, Haney was seconds away from being counted out. Instead of a legendary, indisputable finish on his resume, Ryan got a decision win that the commission later wiped clean. That lost moment of closure is why he is still venting years later.

That harsh penalty converted a clear 10-8 round into a 9-9 stalemate on two official scorecards. Crucially, Dock’s timeout bought Haney precious seconds to clear his head right when he seemed on the brink of being finished.

Garcia walked away with a majority decision victory, which state regulators later erased into a no-contest following an ostarine finding. A clean knockout would have stood immune to an overturned verdict on the cards, leaving Haney with zero room to downplay the beatdown.

That reality keeps the fire burning inside Ryan. Coming off an explosive second-round demolition of Conor Benn, talk of a massive rematch is sweeping through boxing circles. Yet for Garcia, the narrative remains unfinished business because he knows Haney was spared by the referee instead of being counted out on the canvas.

When a fight goes to the scorecards, it remains vulnerable to commission politics, paperwork, and overturned decisions. A brutal, face-down stoppage stays in the public consciousness forever. Even with the ostarine ruling overturning the official result to a no-contest, everyone saw Haney take an absolute beating. But because Haney made it to the final bell, he and his team have been able to cling to the technicality of the overturned decision and dismiss the outcome entirely.

David Benavidez made the jump up from light-heavyweight to cruiserweight earlier this year, and now his latest update seems set to benefit two British contenders.

Benavidez stepped up from super-middleweight to light-heavyweight just two years ago and ‘The Mexican Monster’ was elevated to WBC light-heavyweight world champion following two wins over Oleksandr Gvozdyk and David Morrell.

After defending the belt against Anthony Yarde last November, Benavidez then announced that he would next be stepping up 25lbs and challenging unified WBA and WBO cruiserweight titleholder Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez, but vowed to return to light-heavyweight afterwards.

In May, Benavidez dethroned Ramirez with a dominant six-round stoppage win and career-best performance that caused him to rise the pound-for-pound rankings.

Now, Benavidez has told Inside The Ringthat he will not be returning to the 175lb scene, with his WBC crown set to be relinquished.

“No, [I am not returning to light-heavyweight]. I feel great at this weight-class, I don’t have to lose weight, I have never felt as good as I did for my last fight [against Ramirez]. So, I want to be the reigning champion for a long, long time.”

As a result, the WBC may soon confirm that the scheduled vacant WBC Interim title bout between London’s Joshua Buatsi and Scotland’s Willy Hutchinson will be upgraded to a full vacant WBC light-heavyweight world title contest.

The well-timed rematch between Buatsi and Hutchinson comes two years after Buatsi’s split-decision triumph over the Scotsman and will take place at the AO Arena in Manchester on Saturday, November 7, with a formal WBC announcement anticipated imminently.

Meanwhile, Benavidez is poised to face newly-elevated WBC cruiserweight world champion Michal Cieslak in a three-belt unification clash on Saturday, December 12, in Phoenix, Arizona, with a win setting up an all-action clash against Jai Opetaia.

Eddie Hearn has shared his view on Conor Benn‘s performance against Ryan Garcia on Saturday.

Benn came up short in his maiden world title bid as he was stopped inside two rounds by WBC welterweight champion Garcia at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

It was Benn’s second fight under the Zuffa Boxing banner, after his shock split with long-term promoter Hearn, and the Matchroom Boxing chief told IFL TV that he thought his former fighter looked ‘lost’ against Garcia.

“I’ve been around Conor Benn his whole career and know him pretty well, and I just felt he looked lost. Maybe it was the weight. I don’t know if it was his confidence but he looked lost. In the ring he looked all over the place, jumping around, diving in, and he looked like a rabbit in the headlights.”

Despite their well-publicised split, Hearn did go on to sympathise with Benn, insisting that it isn’t the time for fans to start sticking the boot in.

“I’ve got more reasons than most to throw him to the wolves, but I don’t think there is any need to, look at what he’s done. People will get on his back now and say ‘he’s useless, he couldn’t win a British title, who has he ever beat?’ They might be right but he’s done it.

“I’m not going to sit here now and say he was never any good, because I do think he’s a good fighter and I think he has improved so much, so he deserves a lot of credit for how hard he’s worked to get into that position.”

It’s currently unknown what Benn plans to do next, having released a statement saying he is currently focused on spending time with his family.