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After years of buzz surrounding a potential fight between reigning WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney and No. 7 ranked (according to BoxRec) Ryan Garcia, the contest has been officially announced for April 20th. The two have a long history, dating back to the amateurs where they fought six times, with each taking three wins. There were serious talks of a fight between them late last year after Garcia won his December bout with Oscar Duarte, but he would reverse course, saying that Rolly Romero was “the bigger fight” and talks of the bout with Haney came to an abrupt halt.
The Romero fight didn’t materialize, though, as Rolly was reportedly scheduled to fight Isaac Cruz. Garcia claimed he’d been lied to and that he was told the paperwork was being finalized, when in reality, it was never on the table. “Obviously, that was a lie” he lamented on X (formerly Twitter), then said he looked forward to making his next fight announcement, a PPV for DAZN.
Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia Vegas dust-up
That announcement arrived yesterday afternoon via multiple sources from both camps and even came with a near dust-up last night when the two ran into each other in Las Vegas. They immediately began jawing at each other, each inching closer until they were face-to-face. Garcia shouted to Bill Haney, Devin’s father and trainer, that he needed to stop “p—mping his son,” referring to the way Bill has a knack for showing up at press conferences and fights to stir up potential opponents for his son.
It was after that comment that the shoving began and before long, the two had to be separated, but the principles, Garcia and Devin and even Bill were all still trying to have a go at each other. It was chaotic and seemingly spontaneous. But upon closer examination, it was convenient timing, just hours after the fight announcement, and even seemed a little contrived, at least from where I’m sitting. And I’m not alone in this thought.
Both Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney have released posts on X talking trash, with Garcia pressing on with the narrative that Bill Haney is p—mping out his son.
And just 10 minutes later, Haney made his own post, telling Garcia not to “turn around and run on April 20th” and released his own footage of their run-in.
Garcia gave a quick interview to Fight Hype where he discussed how the upcoming fight came together so quickly. “I’ve got a great team and I don’t mess around when it comes to trying to make the biggest fights happen,” Garcia said before launching another stinger at Bill Haney, ending with, “Bill Haney needs to stop the p—mping game. Bill Haney needs to f—ck off.”
We’ll be following the progress of this fight closely, but until then, we’ll leave you with this clip of a young Ryan Garcia discussing a fight with Devin Haney exactly eight years ago to the day of this announcement. And now, we’re finally going to get to see these two throw dukes while they’re in their prime. April 20th can’t get here fast enough.
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