Eddie Hearn targeting Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney in September or October

By Boxing News - 04/06/2021 - Comments

By Sean Jones: Eddie Hearn says he’ll be ready to put together a huge fight between Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia for September or October if both fighters win their interim coming contests.

Hearn points out the 22-year-old Ryan Garcia already recently refused to fight WBC lightweight champion Haney (25-0, 15 KOs) after beating Luke Campbell in a WBC 135-lb title eliminator three months ago on January 2nd.

Ryan could have fought Haney as the WBC mandatory, but he chose to try and put a fight together with Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Manny Pacquiao.

When Ryan’s dream of facing the superstar Pacquiao for a career-high payday turned out to be a mirage, he was left without an opponent.

So instead of Ryan facing Haney or Pacquiao, he’ll be taking on Javier Fortuna (36-2-1, 25 KOs) in a risky fight in July.

That match-up, by the way, is supposed to be announced Tuesday [today], according to Ryan. We’ll see if it gets announced or if it turns out to be an illusion as well.

“Ryan Garcia refused to fight Devin Haney, so we fight Linares, and they made Garcia vs. Fortuna,” said the Matchroom Boxing head honcho Hearn to the AK & Barak Show on DAZN.

Image: Eddie Hearn targeting Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney in September or October

“No problem, as long as we get the fight we want at the end. If they are good enough to come through, let’s just get it made in Sept/Oct,” Hearn said of King Ry and Haney.

Interim WBC lightweight champion Ryan can’t afford to back out of the Haney fight a second time if he comes out victorious against the 31-year-old Fortuna in July. There are already loads of boxing fans that believe Ryan ducked the Haney fight after getting cold feet.

If Ryan isn’t good enough to beat him, so be it, but he’s got to go through with it this time. There’s no point in Ryan changing his mind at the last minute and drifting off into another direction.

One of Luke Campbell’s trainers said he suspected that Ryan has ADD, attention deficit disorder, with the way he can’t keep his mind on one opponent.

Haney will be defending against former three-division world champion Jorge Linares (47-5, 29 KOs) next month on DAZN on May 29th at the Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

That fight could prove to be more difficult than Ryan’s match against Fortuna, a lot small, older, and weaker than him.

In Haney’s case, he’s fighting a guy with more power, hand speed, experience, and perhaps better skills in Linares. If Haney loses, Hearn can forget about a fight with Ryan Garcia.

Haney would need to avenge his loss the way Dillian Whyte did against old-timer Alexander Povetkin last month.