Ryan Garcia Admits Skipping Over Opportunity to Face Devin Haney
Within the lightweight division, there is an overabundance of wonderful matchups to be made. One such dustup would pit Ryan “King Ry” Garcia (22-0, 18 KO’s) against undisputed lightweight champion Devin “The Dream” Haney (28-0, 15 KO’s). There is interest in this showdown because both are top talents and they even traded wins and losses as amateurs.
In the not so distant past, it appeared that the two were headed for a collision, yet Garcia chose to chase other opportunities. Sadly, King Ry not only didn’t fight Haney, none of the other big fights came together either. It got to the point that The Dream questioned if Garcia, who is ranked #2, (WBC), #6 (WBA) and #10 (IBF), was really even interested in fighting seriously. Now, in a recent media round table, Garcia admits that the Haney match was a botched opportunity.
“At the time, reflecting back on it, maybe a little bit because we could have easily made that fight happen. But again, I’m a go-for-it-all-or-don’t-go-for-nothing [type of guy]. So I seen the opportunity to fight Gervonta Davis, of course that is what I would want to pursue because I think that is the bigger fight and the more dangerous fight.
I know Devin is a very skilled fighter but in terms of success on the event, and then how exciting it will be for myself, to me in the ring, it was wasn’t at that time. But now looking back, I could have had a shot to take that title and then I could have fought Kambosos for all the titles. Say I won that fight, when I would beat Devin Haney, but I missed that opportunity so there is pro’s and con’s to every decision you make.”
ONE BRIDGE AT A TIME
With Haney presently off his radar, Garcia will next test his might against Javier Fortuna on July 16. Even this is somewhat a do-over as the two were already slated to battle when Garcia abruptly withdrew from the contest. If victorious over Fortuna, Garcia has remained very vocal about pursuing a dustup with Regular WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis. While that would certainly make for a big event, we must first see how the duel between Garcia and Fortuna resolves itself. Then we can worry about these big matches down the line.
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By: Bakari Simpson
