Devin Haney’s dad, Bill, wants a rematch for Dev against Ryan Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs) to avenge his 12-round majority decision loss last Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Garcia Looks Beyond Haney
Ryan doesn’t appear interested in running it back with Haney in his next fight, saying he wants to face Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis or Conor Benn. Those are the two on Ryan’s immediate shopping list, but he’s expected to expand that to Gervonta Davis, Teofimo Lopez, and Terence Crawford.
Ryan’s likely next opponent is whoever provides him with the biggest payday and the best chance to increase his star power. Boxing fans’ reaction to Ryan’s mention of Conor Benn has been zero. They don’t want to see that fight.
Controversy and Criticism
Haney (31-1, 15 KOs) was knocked down three times in the fight and was fortunate not to have been stopped in the seventh round. Ryan dropped Devin four times in that round, but the referee, Harvey Dock, waived off three of them, ruling them as slips. Ryan had six knockdowns in total, but he was only given credit for three.
The judges scored it 115-109, 114-110 and 112-112. Haney fought well in the first six rounds, but fell apart from the seventh, getting worked over by Ryan the rest of the way.
Bill Haney’s Demands
“We definitely want a rematch. Devin is the WBC champion. He could lose the belt because Ryan was overweight and couldn’t make the scale,” said Bill Haney on social media, saying he wants a rematch for his son, Devin, after his loss to Ryan Garcia last Saturday night.
“We wanted to make the fight happen. He had a good game plan, both inside and outside of the ring. You can’t take that away from him,” Bill said about Haney. “I’m still going to be representing him with the same passion.”
It doesn’t look good for Haney in getting an immediate rematch with Ryan. What Haney is probably going to have to do is fight someone else.
The Road to Rematch
Devin is expected to be stripped of his WBC light welterweight title due to his loss, but if the World Boxing Council allows him to keep his strap, he’ll have to defend it against his mandatory Sandor Martin (42-3, 15 KOs) next.
That fight won’t pay the kind of money Haney received against Ryan, and it’ll have risk involved as well. The southpaw Martin is an excellent boxer with a crafty style. He arguably beat Teofimo Lopez in 2022 and defeated Mikey Garcia in 2021.