Devin Haney will have his WBC light welterweight title at stake when he faces Ryan Garcia on April 20th in their fight on DAZN. Bill Haney, the manager and trainer for Devin, has confirmed that the fight with Ryan (24-1, 20 KOs) will be at 140 lbs without a catchweight or rehydration clause.
Bill Haney has confirmed the fight will go ahead without weight stipulations. Ryan is at a disadvantage without a rehydration clause. The question is, why did Ryan agree to this?
The Importance of Rehydration Clauses
It’s unclear why the A-side fighter, the true star of this event, Ryan, agreed to face the super middleweight-sized Haney without weight stipulations. Did Ryan get played again? Ryan is the one who will be bringing in the PPV buys and selling the tickets for the fight,
This means that Haney, in theory, could gain 25+ lbs or perhaps even more after the weigh-in and become a full super middleweight on the night of the fight on April 20th. Ryan will be forced to deal with a fighter three divisions larger than him.
You must have a rehydration clause when you have a fighter who has a history of rehydrating tremendous amounts of weight, as we saw with Haney.
The Ideal Compromise
Some would argue that a rehydration clause of 10 lbs would have put the Haney-Garcia fight on an even playing field, especially if the secondary weigh-in were done at 6:00 p.m. on the night of the fight on April 20th.
It’s essential to have a rehydration clause if you’re Ryan in this fight, given that he’s facing a fighter who rehydrated 25 lbs to 165 in his last fight. A rehydration clause of 10 lbs and the weight check happening at 6:00 p.m. on the night of the fight will prevent Haney from quickly putting on an enormous amount of weight, be it 20 lbs or higher.
In Haney’s Favor
This absence of weight stipulations works well for Haney but not for Ryan. The idea behind not having any weight stipulations involved in the fight, with a catchweight or rehydration clause, makes it fair in some respects, at least for Devin.
Haney (31-0, 15 KOs), who reportedly rehydrated to a mammoth 165 pounds for his last fight against WBC 140-lb champion Regis Prograis last December, would be negatively affected if he had to face Ryan at a catchweight or deal with a rehydration clause.