Devin Haney posted on social media telling his followers that he’s locked in with “tunnel vision” for his title defense against Ryan Garcia 12 days from now, on April 20th, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Fans are giving WBC light welterweight champion Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) flak for the tickets not selling, and the situation is looking dire with an empty Barclays Center for their headliner on DAZN PPV.
The promotion depends entirely on Ryan’s huge 11 million followers on Instagram for this event to succeed. As popular as Ryan is, he can’t do it himself. He needs an opponent that the fans want to see, and Haney ain’t it.
Haney: The Ticket Sales Kryptonite
If the situation doesn’t improve, the event organizers may need to cut ticket prices in a firesale and begin giving away complimentary tickets to fans to try and fill the stadium. Haney is just a drag on the promotion.
The Real Reasons Behind the Flop
- Haney’s lack of popularity: Devin’s boring fighting style does not make fans want to rush out and buy tickets or order his fights on PPV, no matter who he’s fighting.
- Skyhigh Ticket Prices
- Geography Fail: Staging the Haney vs. Garcia fight in New York was a foolish idea, and organizers failed to understand where the fan bases of these two fighters were located.
The fans blame high ticket prices for the problems, but it could have more to do with Haney not being a popular fighter. Being a world champion doesn’t translate to popularity, and that’s the whole problem.
Haney is like many of the world champions in the sport who don’t have a large following due to a boring style, does not possess the charisma to sell fights, and may not ever be a popular fighter.
Haney’s Inspirational Quotes Are Falling Flat
“12 days.. tunnel vision,” said HIaney on X.
“This is just the beginning. I’ve got years and years to dominate the sport. They keep lining them up, and I keep knocking them down,” said Devin Haney to DAZN Boxing.
“It’s for me to show him that ‘You’re not on my level. You’re not Devin Haney good.’ That’s for me to prove, and that’s what I’m going to do. “