WBC president to order Devin Haney vs. Ryan Garcia soon

By Boxing News - 01/04/2021 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: With great hope, WBC president Mauricio Suliaman has revealed that his governing body plans on ordering the title fight between WBC lightweight champion Devin ‘The Dream’ Haney and his mandatory Ryan ‘Kingry’ Garcia soon.

Haney’s WBC lightweight  title devalued 

If Ryan agrees to face Haney, he would be putting himself in the position to be fighting for the secondary WBC lightweight title.

Unfortunately, there’s absolutely no worth in any fighter holding that title now that Teofimo Lopez is the WBC Franchise lightweight champion. The WBC took any value in their regular WBA 135-lb title when they created the Franchise champion.

If Haney were forced to fight Teofimo or the previous WBC champion Vasily Lomachenko for the 135-lb title, he would be viewed as the champion.

Haney is a textbook definition of a ‘paper champion,’ which makes it pointless for Ryan to fight him. If the idea is for Ryan to become a real champion, he needs to fight Teofimo.

Teofimo Lopez = The real WBC champ

For Ryan Garcia to be considered the true WBC champ, he needs to fight Teofimo Lopez, not Haney, who holds the devalued WBC lightweight belt.

Haney is viewed as the secondary WBC champ in the eyes of fans. If Ryan wants to be viewed as the lesser WBC champ, he’ll agree to fight Haney for his non-prestigious title.

Sulaiman told AK & Barak Show @SiriusXMBoxing that he’ll be sending the letters to Ryan and Haney within days. He wants to let Ryan celebrate his win last weekend first.

Image: WBC president to order Devin Haney vs. Ryan Garcia soon

The popular ‘Kingry’ Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) beat Luke Campbell by a seventh-round knockout last Saturday night in a WBC 135-lb title eliminator in Dallas, Texas.  This was a match that the World Boxing Council president Sulaiman ordered months ago.

In case Suliaman didn’t tune in last Saturday night, Ryan made it abundantly clear that he wants Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis next, not Devin Haney.

Ryan said he’ll fight Haney one of these days, but after he takes on WBA champion Gervonta (24-0, 23 KOs) and IBF/WBA/WBC Franchise/WBO lightweight champion.

Ryan was booed loudly when he asked the boxing fans at the American Airlines Center in Dallas last Saturday night if they were interested in seeing him challenge WBC lightweight champion Haney next.

Fans want Ryan to fight Gervonta Davis 

It’s not just the people in Dallas that have zero interest in seeing Ryan face Haney. Boxing fans worldwide prefer to see Ryan take on Tank Davis, Teofimo Lopez, and Vasily Lomachenko rather than Haney.

The WBC did Haney no favors by making an email champion in 2019 rather than letting him fight for the belt, which is what they should have done.

At the same time, the WBC made Vasily Lomachenko the Franchise lightweight champion, they elevated Haney as the new WBC lightweight champ.

They basically gutted meaning at all in Haney holding their belt, as the fans have seen him as the real champion. They saw Lomachenko as the legitimate champion.

Teofimo Lopez is now viewed as the REAL WBC 135-lb champion with his 12 round unanimous decision win over Lomachenko on October 17th last year. As a result, the WBC lightweight belt that Haney holds is valueless, making him look like a paper champion in the eyes of fans.

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De La Hoya not interested in Ryan fighting Haney

It’s unclear why Ryan, 22, agreed to the fight, though, as he’s already said that he wants Tank. He’s not interested in taking the fight against WBC belt-holder Haney (25-0, 15 KOs) right now.

One can understand why Sulaiman and the WBC would want Ryan Garcia holding their 135-lb title, considering his huge 7.9 million followers on social media. But it’s not likely to happen.

Ryan’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya showed his lack of interest in a fight between him and Devin Haney with this comment at the post-fight news conference:

“Who cares about Hank Haney? Is that his name? Devin Haney? for the first time in boxing history, world champions need Ryan Garcia. He does not need world champions,” said De La Hoya.

Haney should vacate the WBC title, and get ranked with the IBF, WBA or WBO to force a title shot against Teofimo Lopez or WBA champ Gervonta Davis.

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With his lack of power, Haney would likely lose to Tank and Teofimo. But at least by fighting them, he’d have a chance to capture a belt that had value.