Devin Haney Says He Always Knew That Ryan Garcia was Special
Now that WBC world lightweight champion in recess Devin “The Dream” Haney (24-0, 15 KO’s) has completed the rehab necessary for his shoulder, he finds himself itching for a fight. Via his social media, he went straight at Javier “El Abejon” Fortuna (35-2-1, 24 KO’s) and Ryan “KingRy” Garcia (20-0, 17 KO’s). Of the two, Haney is far more familiar with Garcia than he is with Fortuna.
This is because since the earliest days of their youth, Haney and Garcia have crossed paths numerous times on the amateur circuit. Not only did they run into one another at various competition and events, they have fought a number of times in the ring. Sometimes the Dream won and other matches he lost, but in the end the two competitors walked away with a healthy respect for one another.
MUTUAL RESPECT
It is directly due to his acknowledgement of Garcia’s skillset that spurs Haney want to fight him. When the WBC champ says that he wants to fight only the best, he means to prove it by tangling with foes like the equally young and hungry Ryan Garcia.
“Ryan has always been a good fighter, I cannot take that away from him. I always knew that Ryan was a good fighter from the amateurs days, every fight he was good, every fight it was tough. None of those fights were easy.”
“When we were younger he beat me. I think our first fight was I about nine years old or something like that and he beat me in the earlier days. And as we got older and we started to mature more that’s when I started to beat him.”
“I think that our last fight was a war! It was like a rivalry, so we went to war from round one to round three. Every minute we were at war in there. And in that fight I gave him an eight-count, I gave him a standing eight-count in our last fight. Every fight was tough, none of those were easy.”
GROWING PAINS
Even though Haney built his current impression of Ryan Garcia on those early year battles, he realizes that they truly were youngsters at the time. Since then they have continued to hone their craft and mature physically into full grown men. This is why a showdown at this point would be that much more exciting and memorable.
“We were kids, I think our last fight we were like 15 maybe, 16. No I didn’t have any amateur fights when I was 16, so our last fight we were 15 as kids…so we just have to see. In the pro’s we have to make these fights happen.”
Let’s hope that this is a prizefight that comes together sooner rather than later.
By: Bakari Simpson
