Devin Haney is still looking for vengeance against Ryan Garcia. He just wants to get it in the ring.
Haney initially filed a lawsuit against Garcia for battery, fraud and breach of contract following their WBC super lightweight title fight in April 2024. Garcia badly missed weight for the bout, then floored the former undisputed lightweight champion three times for a majority decision win — after which, Garcia tested positive for the banned substance ostarine.
Advertisement
Garcia’s win was subsequently changed to a no-contest and he received a one-year suspension for the failed drug test. Haney argued in his suit that Garcia’s actions led to Haney suffering physical injury, emotional distress and reputational damage, which cost him millions.
However, Haney confirmed Wednesday on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show” that he is no longer pursuing legal action against Garcia.
“I would say that my team was [behind the lawsuit],” Haney explained. “That wasn’t something [I wanted]. I’m a fighter — I want to get it back in the ring. I want to get it back in blood, and that was my mindset from the start to the end. I’ve always wanted to do a rematch.
“It was a f***ed-up situation for me and my team, because we got the short end of the stick. There was a guy that cheated and I was getting all the flack. I missed out on a lot of money, I missed out on a lot of opportunities for a guy who cheated me. But I wouldn’t have wanted to do it like that [sue Garcia], which I didn’t end up doing it like that. I didn’t go down that route. I said, ‘Listen, let’s fight. Forget that, forget any lawsuit, forget anything. Let’s settle it in the ring.’ That’s when we were scheduled to fight.”
Garcia and Haney inked multi-fight agreements with Saudi Arabian fight financier Turki Alalshikh and Riyadh Season that would’ve seen them rematch this year after competing in warm-up fights in Times Square. Haney defeated Jose Ramirez at Times Square in May to complete his end of the bargain, but Garcia fell short to Rolando “Rolly” Romero later in the night, scuppering plans for a second meeting.
Advertisement
Although Haney ultimately went a different route following Garcia’s loss, he still hopes to be standing across the ring from Garcia sometime in the near future.
“I’m a fighter, and I want to get it back in the ring,” Haney insisted. “The businessman and the business side of me says, ‘Oh, we need to capitalize on the situation because of this and that,’ but the fighter trumps everything. Like I said, the most important thing for me is making sure we do the rematch.
“Of course, there’s animosity [toward Garcia]. I was cheated. I didn’t have a fair fight. It was f***ed-up. But it’s business at the end of the day. So yes, it’s animosity, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to come together to make a fight happen, no matter what. Are we friends? No. Will we talk to make a fight happen? Yeah.”
For now, Haney looks to become a three-division champion on Nov. 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, seeking to dethrone WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. in a much-anticipated bout.
Advertisement
Haney’s path to landing on a Norman fight, however, was far from simple.
“The first fight that was actually signed was the Ryan Garcia fight,” he said.
“We were going to fight in Riyadh, but we were going to face off [after Times Square]. We already had the date, we already had the fight signed. But then he lost, obviously, so then the next fight that I signed for was the [Teofimo Lopez] fight. ‘Teo’ negotiated, we negotiated. He has his terms that he agreed on, I had my terms that I agreed on.”
Lopez ultimately chose not to take the fight with Haney on Aug. 16 for unspecified reasons.
Advertisement
After the bouts with Garcia and Lopez fell through, a matchup pitting Haney against unified welterweight champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis was explored, but by that point Ennis had already decided to move up to super welterweight. Haney had yet to fight at the welterweight limit, so the bout never materialized.
With fights against Garcia, Lopez and Ennis not happening, Haney’s focus shifted to taking on the next-best available challenge at welterweight, which he’ll do on Nov. 22 against the sport’s No. 1-ranked 147-pounder, Norman. Haney hopes to find a home for the next chapter of his career at welterweight after admittedly staying at lightweight for too long and struggling at super lightweight.
“I feel so much better at 147 [pounds],” Haney said. “My weight is good. I eat what I want. My training camps aren’t based on weight like they were for a long time. I’d go into training camp to lose weight and spar for skills. Now [my training camps are] really around game-planning and really just getting better. It’s not about weight.
“I plan on being [at welterweight] for a while. Like I said, I feel great. I feel so much [better], I’m way happier. My sparring has been showing how sharp I am, how much stronger I am. They say I can’t take a punch … people say a lot. I think they forget about the Ryan Garcia fight, that I got up three times. What does that mean that you cannot take a punch if you get [knocked down but get] up?
Advertisement
“They say a lot. They say I can’t punch too,” Haney continued. “Now at 147, we’ll see. We’ll see if I punch harder, if I can take a punch better. That’s why this fight is so important to me, because they say I can’t block a left hook, right? Well, we’ve seen Brian Norman — his last fight, he knocked a guy out cold with a left hook. They say I can’t take a punch — well, we’ve got a guy who’s strong, who can punch. [According to] what they say, he’s a kryptonite to my style. That’s why this fight is such an important fight for me — turning the non-believers into believers and [proving] the doubters and the naysayers wrong.”
WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. has emerged as a ferocious knockout artist.
(Steve Marcus via Getty Images)
Although Haney sees the next part of his career coming at welterweight, the two-division champion does eventually envision himself fighting as high as middleweight, which would open the door to matchups with Ennis, Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Conor Benn down the line.
Haney also addressed the controversial Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act, which has been one of the biggest news stories in the boxing world in recent months. The fast-moving piece of legislation is backed by TKO — the parent company of UFC, WWE and Zuffa Boxing — and is expected to be integral to Zuffa’s efforts in boxing.
Advertisement
The Ali Revival Act would essentially allow TKO to create a “Zuffa” belt and run its own rankings systems away from the traditional four-belt system of boxing. The California State Athletic Commission unanimously voted to support the Ali Revival Act earlier this month, despite stern opposition from more than a dozen UFC fighters speaking from their experiences fighting under the TKO banner.
“I think it should stay how it is,” Haney said. “[The Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act of 2000] was put in place to protect fighters. … It was put in place to protect us, so of course they’re going to try and get it out.
“I think there are things wrong with the sport of boxing. Not everything is perfect, but the things that I’m hearing [Zuffa is] trying to change aren’t the things [that are] wrong. Of course, the rankings systems [and] the mandatories — maybe [they] could be fixed … it could be tweaked. But as far as getting rid of the belts — this is what made boxing. This is what kids grow up to strive for and to be inspired by — being undisputed champion — and it would suck if they changed it.”