Golden Boy star Ryan Garcia is the only man to blame for a WBC-ordered clash against Devin Haney failing to happen this summer.
‘King Ry’ was in line to battle Haney for the WBC’s secondary lightweight title, but both recently announced separate foes.
Garcia will fight Javier Fortuna. Haney, for his part, will take on Jorge Linares. Both decent events in their own right.
But promoter Eddie Hearn, who looks after Haney’s affairs, has confirmed that an offer was on the table to Garcia for that fight next.
Hearn squarely blames Garcia’s walking away as the only reason why the bout collapsed.
“Ryan Garcia refused to fight Devin Haney, so we applied to fight Jorge Linares. Garcia now has Fortuna. Not a problem, but we need to see Haney-Garcia after,” Hearn told Sirius XM in his Weekly Report recently.
“Garcia is a great fighter and talks about lots of challenges, but there is one right in front of him in Haney.
“This all works out if Garcia and Haney both win and face each other. We need to put pressure on this situation if both win their next fights.
“Garcia vs. Haney doesn’t need to be built anymore or being put on hold for big crowds. We have fans coming out for the big fights already.”
On their respective opponents, Hearn added: “Linares is a tougher fighter than Fortuna.”
DEVIN HANEY FUTURE
Haney could face Teofimo Lopez, holder of the most significant WBC title as Franchise belt holder if President Mauricio Sulaiman believes it makes sense.
Right now, the fans seem content to see Garcia vs. Haney provided it gets over the line before the end of the year.
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