He’s only 26 and yet Devin Haney’s going to make the long walk to the ring on Friday to face Jose Ramirez in the open skies of Times Square for the 33rd time.
He’s faced, and ably handled, nearly every situation a boxer can see except maybe a paraglider flying into the ring during his bout and his opponent trying to bite off his ears.
He’s proven his greatness repeatedly, and yet as he prepares to take on Ramirez, there are suddenly more questions than answers about a guy gifted enough to sit atop the whole damn heap.
The world watched in shock — horror, depending on where you are from and who you were for — as his reputation unraveled on April 20, 2024, in 12 stunning rounds.
That night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Haney took on Ryan Garcia in one of the wildest fights in recent memory. It was a night that began with him as the disciplined technician and ended with Haney as the stunned target of Garcia’s erratic blitz.
What followed wasn’t just a loss. It was a circus.
Garcia played the fool before the fight, and instead of cutting weight, was in Central Park with his girlfriend sipping wine and doing who knows what else. There was a failed drug test. An arrest. He was excommunicated by the WBC. He became a national punchline.
Garcia fought his demons in full view of the world.
Haney, though, had plenty of demons himself to contend with after he was dropped three times and, worse, made to look ordinary in the toughest 12 rounds of his life against what he thought was a clown in shorts and boxing gloves across from him.
In a surreal twist, Haney on Friday will step into the ring under the lights of Times Square with a chance to reclaim something more elusive than a belt: control of his story.
It’s going to be a tall task. And he’s going to have to perform knowing Garcia will follow him to the ring, and that a win by both will bring them back face-to-face in a few months.
Haney has always conducted himself professionally; he usually leaves the nonsense and the trash talk to his father/trainer/manager/best friend/guru, Bill Haney.
But the Haneys made a mistake in the aftermath of the fight with Garcia that still haunts him today. The loss was overturned when Garcia failed a post-fight drug test, and Garcia was suspended for a year by the New York State Athletic Commission, retroactive to the night of the fight, and fined more than $1 million.
Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy Promotions.
Devin Haney said he has to prove himself on Friday when he fights Jose Ramirez in New York.
In one of the worst post-fight decisions a boxer could make, Haney sued Garcia for the PED usage. He got his championship back — which he subsequently vacated — and the loss was removed from his record.
That, and the knowledge he’d get a rematch, should have been satisfactory.
Haney sued in federal court in New York for damages for battery, fraud and breach of contract in a curious choice that made him look weak.
No one could, or should, argue with Haney’s outrage about facing an opponent with performance enhancing drugs in his system. Boxing is a lethal enough sport as it is without enhancing that fighter with drugs.
That said, if steroids turned an average dude into Mike Tyson, there’d be a lot of couch potatoes sticking needles into their butts, hoping to challenge Barry Bonds for the home run record and land a $50 million salary.
He wasn’t going to get redemption in a courtroom. That could only come under the lights with Garcia walking him down a second time.
But to get there, Haney has to deal with Ramirez, a 2012 U.S. Olympian who is hoping that a move from super lightweight to welterweight will enable him to extend his career a bit longer.
“Having those extra four pounds have made the weight cut much easier,” Ramirez said. “I’m hoping to show a new Jose Ramirez. I work hard and I want it to show.”
The burden on Haney Friday isn’t the weight class. It’s what’s going on between the ears. He needs to prove himself all over again, show that he’s the defensive master and the blistering counterpuncher he was once against Regis Prograis.
Every boxer can only take so many punches in a career. Did Haney reach that threshold against Garcia? The first hint will come on Friday, when he faces Ramirez.
Haney insists he gets it.
“In boxing, you have to prove yourself time in and time out, just like any other sport,” Haney said. “LeBron [James] has to prove himself again and again, and so do I.”
The real proof will come not against Ramirez but against Garcia. Garcia should easily dispose of Romero, a hard puncher who has way too many defensive flaws to last too long against a quick boxer-puncher like him.
As they passed at an open workout in New York, Haney, his father and Garcia exchanged words. Garcia knows he’s in Haney’s head and took full advantage.
“His dad likes to talk a lot,” Garcia said. “That’s what got his son beat the first time. It is what it is. If he wants to do that again, we can run it.”
Everyone knows the stakes. Bill Haney, in particular, doesn’t need to be mouthing off. PEDs or not, Garcia sorely outboxed his son last year.
They need to put their heads down and get to work and forget about Garcia until he’s the guy they’re fighting.
Haney says that’s the case, but … do you believe him?
“Right now, Ramirez is on my menu,” Haney said. “Once I finish my breakfast, I’ll move on to my lunch. We all know what the people want to see. There’s unfinished business there. But I have to finish what’s in front of me first.”
They say the bright lights reveal character. Haney once thrived in them. Now they’re back, harsh and unforgiving, and so is the man in front of him.
If the road to redemption begins anywhere, it starts here: Fists clenched, jaw tight, eyes fixed — not just on Ramirez, but on the specter of that hard-punching 'clown' who turned his world upside down.
Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy Promotions
Devin Haney is fighting Jose Ramirez Friday but has Ryan Garcia on his mind.