Israel Adesanya’s wallet is a little lighter this morning.
After months of bizarre behavior, Ryan Garcia shocked the boxing world on Saturday night, handing WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney the first loss of his career. ‘King Ryan’ looked as sharp as ever, knocking ‘The Dream’ down three times over the 12-round affair en route to a majority decision victory.
Needless to say, it was a good night for the sportsbooks. Haney was a significant favorite going into the contest with some sites listing him as high as 8-to-1. ‘The Last Stylebender’ decided to take the bait, placing a $20,000 bet on Haney to KO Garcia at +100 odds, meaning that Adesanya would have doubled his money had the bet hit.
“Shoot the dice,” Adesanya wrote on X alongside a picture of his play.
Instead, it was Garcia who nearly finished things. After catching Haney with a booming left hook in the opening round, Garcia slowed down a bit, leading many to believe he’d already punched himself out. That theory was thrown out after ‘King Ryan’ dropped his opponent in the seventh, tenth, and eleventh rounds.
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
And poof! $20,000 down the drain.
It’s not the first time Israel Adesanya has lost big money betting on boxing
It’s far from the first time that Israel Adesanya has come up short while laying down big money. He put another 20k down on Francis Ngannou to leave with a win over Tyson Fury last October. Unfortunately, ‘The Predator’ came up short on two of the three scorecards, a decision that was and still is heavily scrutinized.
In reality, it’s unlikely that the ‘Stylebender’ is putting up his own money. His sponsorship deal with Stake likely affords him so many opportunities to play with house money — so long as he advertises his bets on social media.
Still, 20 grand is nothing to scoff at, no matter whose pocket it comes out of.
Check out the full highlights from Haney vs. Garcia below: