Promoter Oscar De La Hoya has flat-out rejected Devin Haney’s request for a rematch with Ryan Garcia, telling him, “There will NOT be a rematch.”
That’s got to hurt Haney, who needs the fight with Ryan (25-1, 20 KOs) to redeem himself after being thrashed in a fight that resembled a massacre from the seventh round on. Haney (31-1, 15 KOs) was knocked down six times in the fight, and totally humiliated by Ryan.
De La Hoya Delivers the Knockout Blow
Oscar let Haney have the bad news on his Instagram site, telling him, “Good luck with Eddie [Hearn], but there will not be a rematch. Good luck in your career and good luck with Eddie, a European promoter trying to make it in the US,”
There it is. No rematch for Ianey, and he’ll now need to move on and make a title defense of his tarnished WBC light welterweight title that he’s still clinging to, thanks to Ryan missing weight.
Haney needed the referee to save him from being knocked out in the seventh with his convenient point deduction of Ryan Garcia for hitting him on the break.
What’s a Bruised Champ to Do?
With the potentially lucrative rematch with Ryan not a possibility, Haney is stuck having to defend against his WBC mandatory challenger, Sandor Martin. This fight won’t sell on DAZN PPV, and it’s one that he might lose. Nobody cares about it, and neither do I.
Martin spells trouble for Haney, and he needs to come up with a way to avoid this guy before he ends what’s left of his career.
Ryan has already suggested a way out for Haney of his tough predicament: vacating his WBC light welterweight title to avoid Sandor Martin and giving him his belt.
Obviously, Ryan doesn’t want the title because the last thing he needs is to have the WBC charge him a stiff sanctioning fee for a strap he has no intention of defending. But Ryan is right about Haney needing to trash his WBC light welterweight title because he can make more money fighting without the belt against popular fighters at 140, 135, or 147.
That WBC belt is like dead weight for Haney, and he needs to get rid of it so he avoids fighting Sandor Martin in a low-paying fight and potentially losing.