Ryan Garcia was so confident that Devin Haney would beat Brian Norman Jr. that he bet $50,000 on his rival to win.

Haney (33-0, 15 KOs, 1 NC) knocked down Norman (28-1, 22 KOs, 1 NC) en route to a unanimous decision win Saturday as part of “The Ring IV: Night of the Champions” card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

With the victory, Haney picked up Norman’s WBO welterweight title, cracked The Ring’s top 10 in the pound-for-pound list, and now sits atop The Ring’s 147-pound rankings.

After the bout, Garcia reflected on the result on social media.

“That didn't surprise me at all,” said Garcia. “I knew Haney was going to rebound after the Jose Ramirez fight. Haney showed me what he usually is – a fast puncher, tricky shot selection, and ultimately knows how to stay out of range. Haney got his confidence once he dropped Norman, and Norman lost all of his confidence and didn't know how to gain it back. Haney was able to have his way. There was never any real threat after that. Norman looked how I thought he would – inexperienced. Norman was in la-la land [after getting knocked down]. I don't know how Haney didn't get him out of there. He doesn't have a killer instinct.

“I knew it was going to be too much for Norman. It definitely showed. With Devin, you have to hurt that dude. You can't just let him have his way. You have to make him feel every shot. Because, as you have seen, Devin will fight scared. Norman stood in front of him all night. What are you doing standing in front of Haney? He's going to find his shots, sooner or later. It was a bad game plan for Norman. Norman showed me that he's not a thinker. Norman never set up the hook. He just jumped in with the hook and thought that he was going to land it. Anyone can see that. It was so obvious.”

Ironically, it was Haney who cracked Norman with a left hook after all of the pre-fight chatter suggested that Norman would do to Haney what Garcia did as well when he dropped Haney three times with a left hook during their controversial clash in April 2024. After Garcia originally scored a majority decision win, the result was changed to a no-contest after Garcia tested positive for Ostarine, a performance-enhancing drug.

Garcia (24-2, 20 KOs, 1 NC) is supposed to fight WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios on February 21, and he envisions beating Barrios to set up a rematch for a title unification fight against Haney.

Garcia has not fought since getting dropped and suffering a unanimous decision defeat against Rolando Romero in May on The Ring's Times Square card.

“I am going to show a whole different side of me and a whole different Ryan from my last fight. Everyone is going to change their mind and say ‘I should fight Haney,’” said Garcia.

“Devin just cannot beat me. No matter what you do, how you set it up, I always beat that man. I know him better than he knows himself.

“I really want all that smoke, for real. I’m just tired of the narrative of them saying ‘if he didn’t cheat’ – I didn’t cheat! … Anybody who looks into it knows that I had no actual advantage and even the Haneys know that but if they want to walk into the fight with that delusion, let them do it because I will give them a reality check once again. And I’m not going to be nice to them again. They think I’m going to be nice, I’m not going to be nice to them – same treatment, same ass-whooping, and same mentality.”