Home Boxing News Devin Haney tells “Queen” Ryan Garcia to go and cry about fighting...

Devin Haney tells “Queen” Ryan Garcia to go and cry about fighting on the east coast

Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia. Photo credit: talkSPORT

It didn’t take long for Ryan Garcia 24-1 (20) to complain about the venue for his fight against WBC junior welterweight champion Devin Haney 31-0 (15).

The 25-year-old Los Angelan will challenge for his first world title when he meets Las Vegas-based San Franciscan Haney, also 25, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on April 20.

Garcia wanted the fight to take place in Las Vegas.

“This is a MGM Vegas fight, doing everything we can to bring this to Vegas and giving this fight what it deserves,” Garcia posted to social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

“This decision has nothing to do with NYC but everything to do with business and what I believe is the best move for my career.”

But Haney was much more pragmatic about moving the fight to the east coast.

“Canelo is fighting two weeks after us, on May 4,” Haney explained to The MMA Hour. “[Broadcaster DAZN] did not want us fighting on Canelo’s date, messing up his gate.

“Big events like this do not happen like that when it is back-to-back, especially in boxing, so that is when New York came up. I heard about it the night before [the announcement] and I said I was all for it, and then it was announced.

“The best next spot was New York. I agreed to go there and I love New York. It is the media capital of the world, [so] we will get so many eyeballs and so much promotion. I love it.”

Haney was blunt when asked what he thought about Garcia’s recent comments.

“Queen Ryan doesn’t like it, but he can go and cry about it,” he said. “We signed a contract, it is here and this is where it will be.”

Negotiations for the Haney-Garcia fight ultimately ran smoothly once Garcia’s other options fell through.

“Ryan called me out, we went into discussions, and then we fell out of discussions, and we all know what happened next,” Haney said. “He went on a jog with Floyd [Mayweather].

“He went on a jog and then he had a change of heart, so the fight fell out. He was in negotiations with Rolly [Romero], Pitbull [Cruz] and I really didn’t know what was going on, so I was looking out at what was next [for me] because that fight fell out. Pitbull and Rolly agreed to fight, and then it was ‘here comes Ryan’.

“It was easy, because I feel if two guys wanna make a fight happen, it’s not that hard. Of course, we were back and forth over the numbers. That part will always take time, but other than that, it wasn’t really hard for the fight to be made.”

Former undisputed lightweight champion Haney will be making the first defence of the WBC 140-pound title he won against Regis Prograis 29-2 (24) by shutout in December.