DEVIN HANEY DOESN’T THINK ONE-YEAR SUSPENSION, $1.2 MILLION FINE WAS ENOUGH PUNISHMENT FOR RYAN GARCIA
NEW YORK – Devin Haney appreciates that his majority-decision defeat to Ryan Garcia was overturned.
The former undisputed lightweight champion can’t erase the memories of what happened to him in their grueling fight last April 20. At least, though, the lone loss on his professional record was removed once Garcia tested positive for ostarine, a substance banned by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association.
The 26-year-old Haney still feels Garcia got off relatively easily.
Having a performance-enhancing drug in his system when they fought was bad enough from Haney’s viewpoint. The fact that Garcia intentionally came in significantly higher, 3½ pounds, above their contracted weight of 140 pounds angers Garcia’s rival even more.
Haney and his father/trainer/manager, Bill Haney, could’ve handled Garcia’s weight issue differently by making Garcia come back to the New York State Athletic Commission’s scale last April 19. Haney instead accepted the financial penalty Garcia paid for coming in overweight and approached their 12-round fight as if Garcia wasn’t physically or mentally fit for that type of competition.
That turned out, of course, to be an underestimation of Garcia’s capabilities, despite his erratic behavior throughout that promotion.
Regardless, Haney will end exactly the same layoff as Garcia on Friday night when they face separate opponents at Times Square in Manhattan. Haney’s hiatus was self-imposed, whereas he doesn’t think Garcia should be allowed to return to the ring so soon – nearly 54 weeks after they fought at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
“I definitely feel like if a guy could just get a one-year ban, take one year out the ring and pay a million dollars, when he is making a lotta millions, it’s nothing, at the end of the day,” Haney told The Ring. “But I do thank the New York State Athletic Commission for doing the right thing and overturning the decision [to a no-contest].
“But no, I think cheaters should get banned from the sport. Because, like I said, we could lose our life. This is not baseball. This is not basketball. This is not football. We’re putting our life on the line every time we step into that ring. So, you know, it could’ve went totally wrong in that fight.”
Haney (31-0, 15 KOs, 1 NC), an Oakland native who resides in Henderson, Nevada, is set to face Jose Ramirez (29-2, 18 KOs), a former WBC/WBO 140-pound champ from Avenal, California, in a 12-round welterweight bout Friday night. DAZN Pay-Per-View will stream their co-feature immediately prior to another 12-round, 147-pound bout between Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs, 1 NC), of Victorville, California, and Rolando “Rolly” Romero (16-2, 13 KOs), of North Las Vegas, Nevada.
If Garcia and Haney win, they have agreed to fight again sometime in October. DraftKings lists Garcia as a 9-1 favorite and handicapped Haney, The Ring’s No. 1-ranked junior welterweight contender, as a 12-1 favorite.
A third 12-round match, which will pit Ring and WBO junior welterweight champ Teofimo Lopez against Arnold Barboza Jr., will be the second of four fights offered as part of The Ring’s “FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves” show ($59.99 in the United States). Barboza (32-0, 11 KOs), of El Monte, California, is The Ring’s No. 3 contender for the 140-pound championship owned by Las Vegas’ Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs).
The Ring’s event Friday night can be bundled with DAZN Pay-Per-View’s show the next night for $89.99. Mexican legend Canelo Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) will defend his Ring, WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight titles against Cuba’s William Scull (23-0, 9 KOs) in the 12-round round main event Saturday night at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
