Devin Haney’s dad, Bill Haney, says they chose Ryan Garcia in a move to become ‘The Face of Boxing’ in the sport. Bill sees Ryan (24-1, 20 KOs) as a chess piece that his son, Devin (31-0, 15 KOs), needs to become the biggest star in boxing.
Haney will defend his WBC light welterweight title against Ryan on April 20th in Las Vegas in a fight shown on DAZN. Bill doesn’t know where the fight will be staged yet.
Bill hopes that after Devin “Massacres” Ryan Garcia, he can arrange a fight against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis to dethrone him as the ‘Face of Boxing’ if he doesn’t take the top spot before he faces him.
Bill is missing out on the fact that to be the face of the sport; you must be able to sell more than 30K PPV buys because those numbers suggest that fans don’t want to see your fights badly enough to pay in large numbers.
Haney Chooses Ryan In Strategic Move
“I think this was one of the big components on the chessboard of being the Face of Boxing,” said Bill Haney to Ariel Helwani’s site, talking about Devin Haney facing the popular influencer Ryan Garcia on April 20th on DAZN.
It’s almost a foregone conclusion that Haney will defeat Ryan. The only question is whether the fight will be competitive. Moving forward, if Haney can’t get a fight with Tank Davis next, he needs to face IBF 140-lb champion Subriel Matias, Shakur Stevenson, or Jaron Ennis.
With Haney not being a draw, he’s got to face better opposition than Ryan and Regis Prograis. Those guys aren’t good enough to transform Devin into a star.
“It came close enough to His Excellency came on board to dispel [any issues] that money would be a problem. They were willing to make it happen. It came that close,” said Bill.
Gervonta’s Request for Ferraris Ruined Things
“Tank asked to be sent a couple of Ferraris. I didn’t want to get in the way because I didn’t want him to offend His Excellency. So, I asked, ‘What color would you want?’ But before I could get a replay back, [His Excellency] said he would only be sending gloves to Tank Davis’ team.
“So, I think negotiations fell off after that. I’ve been trying to make that fight because the people want to see it,” said Bill.
