By Dan Ambrose: Devin Haney’s promoter Eddie Hearn cut in on an interview of Ryan Garcia on Thursday to confront him about wanting to put a fight together between them.
Hearn said to Ryan that if he can’t get the big fights that he wants against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis or Manny Pacquiao, he needs to face Haney.
In response, Ryan told Hearn that he’s flat-out not interested in facing WBC lightweight champion Haney (25-0, 15 KOs) because he’s not fought anyone impressive during his career, and he’s not looked great when he was supposed to.
Ryan says his next opponent will be announced soon, but he’s not saying who he’s facing. It was supposed to be Tank Davis, but then Ryan foolishly walked away from that fight because he thought he was going to get a mega-fight against Pacquiao.
Now that fight isn’t happening, Ryan is without an opponent. Tank says Ryan will have to get in line, which means he’s back to square one with no options for a big-money match unless he wants to fight Haney.
If Ryan ends up fighting Javier Fortuna next, he’s going to be seen by fans as ducking Haney because that’s not a bigger fight. Fortuna isn’t a belt-holder at 135, and he’s not popular.
Hearn confronts Ryan Garcia
“You’re going to see what happens happens,” said Ryan Garcia to Boxing Social when asked if he’s facing Tank Davis next. “I can’t really speak on anything too much, but just know in the coming month or two, you’ll see who I’m fighting.
Eddie Hearn: “One thing I’ll say, I do think he should fight Devin Haney. Before the Luke Campbell fight, yeah, I did think you were going to lose. It’s a massive fight [Ryan vs. Haney].”
Ryan: “Let’s be honest right now. Has he fought anyone where anyone said, ‘Damn, that’s a good fight,'” said Ryan to Hearn in talking about Haney.
Hearn: “I agree, and I had an argument with Bill [Haney]. Devin wants to fight everybody.”
Ryan: “I want to fight everybody.”
Hearn: “We do need a big fight, right? You really haven’t had a big fight. You boxed Luke Campbell, and that was a great win. I just feel you and Devin is a super fight.
“It sells out the Staples Center, you make a fortune. But as I said in every interview, if you get Tank or if you get Pacquiao, I can’t argue.
“If you don’t, I think you should consider Devin Haney, personally, because I think it’s a massive fight for massive money. If you believe you can win, you should take the fight if you don’t get those other fights.
Ryan: “But if I do get it?”
Hearn: “Oh, I’ll respect it and say 100% that was the right move for you [to fight Pacquiao or Gervonta]. But if you don’t, I would like you to consider Devin Haney.”
Ryan: “Okay, I will.
Hearn: “But I think you’re doing great.”
Ryan: “You’re seeing it right here.
Ryan has no interest in Devin fight
“Devin Haney, I’m not interested in it, to be honest, because he don’t excite me,” said Ryan when asked about whether he’d be interested in facing Devin.
“You can’t name one person he fought that is exciting and that raised a challenge. He doesn’t even do anything exciting even when he’s supposed to beat somebody.
“That’s the part that really irritates me. You’re supposed to knock these dudes out. Do something that makes people say, ‘Damn, Devin Haney is a bad mother f***.’ I don’t see that,” said Ryan.
As long as Ryan is facing quality guys that the boxing public view as being better than Haney, he won’t receive flak for not fighting him. Ryan’s attempt at getting a fight against Manny Pacquiao has given him cover for not taking on Haney.
But now that it’s clear the Pacquiao fight isn’t happening for Ryan, he’s going to need to face someone talented. fans are going to want to see Ryan fight Tank Davis now, and if not him, Javier Fortuna.
“I’m sorry, no disrespect. I think he’s a great fighter, boxer, but he doesn’t excite me. I want Gervonta Davis, let’s go,” said Ryan Garcia in making it clear he wants Tank, not Ryan.
“Man, I’ll knock him out in two rounds, asleep on the floor,” said King Ryan in giving his prediction on a fight between him and Gervonta. “He’ll go on and have an OK career, but he’s out, asleep,” said Ryan.
Right now, the last thing Ryan should be talking about is Tank Davis because it’s becoming a joke.
What Ryan should be doing is keeping quiet until his next opponent is announced. Ryan doesn’t need to continually be calling out fighters and then not facing them for whatever reason.
King Ryan talks Teofimo Lopez
“I’m happy for him,” said Ryan Garcia about the news of Teofimo Lopez’s purse bid being won by Triller last Thursday.
“He bet on himself, and he got it. Triller won that bid. Now he’s going to make some good money against [George] Kambosos.
“I’m just hoping that they don’t treat him [Teofimo] bad when he comes back, Top Rank.
“I think they should always respect a fighter trying to get the most for their life and for their family. Bob Arum shouldn’t be salty.
“He should be like, ‘Damn, cool. I’m happy for this thing happening for Teofimo.’ I feel like Bob shouldn’t be mad. Bob should be like, ‘You went and got your money, kid, but we don’t got it,” said Ryan on Top Rank and Teofimo.
Hopefully, Teofimo hasn’t burned his bridges with Top Rank by forcing his title defense against George Kambosos Jr to a purse bid. If this turns out to a war between him and Top Rank, both will lose put.
Top Rank makes the fights for Teofimo, and he’s still with them for the next 3 1/2 years. As long as there’s bad blood between Teo and Top Rank, they should be able to move past this without any problems.
It would be a good idea for Teofimo to resist rubbing it into Top Rank’s races about him getting a better deal from the $6.2 million purse bid that was won by Triller compared to the original money he was being offered by his promoters.
We’ll see what happens with Teofimo when he comes back to Top Rank after his one fight with Triller against Kambosos is done with.
Will Teofimo still be offered a fight against the winner of the Josh Taylor vs. Jose Ramirez after this? That’s the magic question.
Ryan says promoters holding back fightersÂ
“I think some of the promoters are trying to run their careers like they how they did it [in the past],” said Ryan about some promoters wanting to slow the progress of the Four Kings in the lightweight division.
“You guys aren’t us, we’re a different breed. We want it now. We keep fighting, fighting and fighting. We want it now. How I made the Campbell fight, I just said, ‘yes.”
The promoters want to be careful in how they match their fighers because their value can drop overnight if they suffer a bad loss.
I mean, look at Deontay Wilder as an example of a fighter that has arguably lost popularity following a bad defeat. That could easily happen to Ryan Garcia if he gets beaten by Tank Davis or Manny Pacquiao.