Fight fans know we will see a fight that will pit former 135 pound champ Devin Haney against Ryan Garcia, with Haney to make the first defence of his 140 pound title. We know the massively intriguing fight will happen on April 20 – and now we have a venue.
Oscar De La Hoya took to X (formerly twitter) to announce that Haney Vs. Garcia will go down in New York, at The Barclays Centre.
This is somewhat surprising as most boxing people felt this one would be staged in Las Vegas. Instead, big time boxing returns to The Big Apple.
Vegas, once the undisputed king when it came to playing host to a super fight, will miss out with this one. But wherever Haney Vs. Garcia was to be held, fans would turn out. De La Hoya says he hasn’t been this pumped up and excited about a fight for quite some time. And why not?
Haney is super-slick and “The Dream” is undefeated. Garcia is super-fast, of hand in particular, while “KingRy” has lost just the one time, this to Gervonta Davis. We should see a whole lot of speed, skill and boxing brilliance when this fight gets underway. But who wins?
A distance fight looks to be a pretty good bet. Garcia, though, is the puncher here. But can Garcia penetrate Haney’s quite superb defence with anything big? Haney showed in the Regis Prograis fight where he won. his 140 pound belt, that his speed and reflexes made the move up in weight with him just fine.
Again, this fight is absolutely one for the diary. While as great as the intervention into boxing from the Saudis is, it may come as a nice surprise to some fight fans that New York will host a massive fight once again.
Will we see a sold-out Barclays Centre on April 20?
Who do YOU like on April 20 – Haney or Garcia, and how?