Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero says fans no longer want to see the Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney rematch in October after their performances last Friday night at Times Square in New York City. Fans have been critical of Haney for his excessive running and failure to engage in his 12-round unanimous decision win over Jose Ramirez.
(Credit: Geoffrey Knott/Matchroom)
Haney was overly defensive against Ramirez, and showed no heart for fighting or entertaining the fans at the ringside and those who had ordered the event on DAZN PPV. While he did win, he looked afraid and retreated far too much for the fight for fans to get their money’s worth.
October Uncertainty
“Nobody wants to see Ryan Garcia vs. Haney rematch,” said Rolly Romero to Little Giant Boxing about what his victory over Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney’s poor performance against Jose Ramirez last Friday did to the prospects of them fighting a rematch in October.
Rolly is right. The interest that was once there from fans in a Garcia-Haney rematch is gone. If Turki Alalshikh chooses to go along with his original plans of setting up a second fight in October, it’s not going to be well-received. Ryan needs to avenge his loss to Rolly or beat one of the champions at 147, Jaron Ennis or Brian Norman Jr.
“As long as you win the fight. He won the fight. Ryan didn’t win the fight,” said trainer Derek ‘Bozy’ Ennis to YSM Sports Media, defending Haney for fighting timidly against Ramirez. “That was the big money fight coming. He did his job, but Ryan didn’t do his job.”
Haney failed, too. It wasn’t just Ryan who failed to perform last Friday. In some ways, Haney’s non-effort of running around the ring for 12 rounds is much worse than losing a fight, because he fought cowardly. Fans can’t relate to watching those kinds of fighters. Those are the type of fighters that don’t belong on PPV cards, and they definitely don’t deserve to be paid $10 million for a fight.
Standing by Devin
“He won every round. That’s the way I look at it,” said Bozy, continuing with his defense of Haney’s lackluster performance. “They can talk about all the want to. The name of the game is to hit and not get hit, but you still got to fight sometimes. He’s been doing this so long. So, it might never take effect,” said Bozy when asked how long it’ll take before Haney starts fighting aggressively again.”
Haney is NOT going to change his fighting style to become aggressive, because he can’t take a punch and has no power. If he did try to fight aggressively, it would end in disaster unless he was fighting someone with no power or completely shot. In two of Haney’s last three fights, he’s fought washed-up fighters, Jose Ramirez and Regis Prograis. He ran from both.
“I think he [Haney] did the right thing coming off that beating, but I would have sat down a little bit more and let him know that I’m here and I want him to respect me. He did move around a little too much, but other than that, he won the fight. They keep talking about, ‘He was running.’ The name of the game is to hit and not get hit,” said Bozy, praising Haney, but failing to see the big picture of his needing to entertain on PPV.
Haney was reportedly paid $10 million for the fight with Ramirez, and he was fighting in the co-feature on PPV. Bozy may not understand this, but it’s just about winning. When you’re on PPV coming off a loss and paid $10 million, it’s about entertaining. For him not to know that, it’s troubling. He’s been in the game a long time. He should know that.
