Devin Haney-Ryan Garcia event lands at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York
Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia now have a home for their fight, to go along with their press tour.
Their recently confirmed WBC 140-pound title fight will headline an April 20 DAZN Pay-Per-View event from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The venue was confirmed by Oscar De La Hoya, the Hall of Fame former six-division champ and chairman of Golden Boy Promotions who will co-promote the event along with Devin Haney Promotions.
“@RealDevinHaney vs @RyanGarcia will be live on @DAZNBoxing from @barclayscenter promoted by @GoldenBoy Boxing 4/20/24,” De La Hoya posted Wednesday evening on X from his verified account.
Haney, who is ranked No. 1 in the junior welterweight division by The Ring, will defend his WBC junior welterweight title for the first time. Garcia will enter his first fight for a full version of a major sanctioning body title.
The event will mark the first Barclays appearance for both. Haney’s lone other New York appearance was in a September 2019 fourth-round stoppage of unbeaten Zaur Abdullaev to win the title at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in NYC.
Devin Haney (right) vs. Zaur Abdullaev. Photo by Anthony Geathers/ Getty Images
Garcia also previously fought just once in New York, as part of Golden Boy Promotions’ first-ever DAZN show in December 2018, in the main room at MSG.
The location took many by surprise, as most involved were under the belief that the fight would take place in Las Vegas, where Haney is based and where both have previously fought multiple times.
Nevertheless, the development concludes a matchup more than three years in the making, when Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) held an interim version of the WBC lightweight title owned at the time by Haney (31-0, 15 KOs).
Both fighters went in separate directions but have still emerged as two of the biggest stars in the sport at just 25 years of age.
Talks were reignited last December after both posted wins one week apart.
Garcia, 25, Victorville, California, scored an eighth-round knockout of Mexico’s Oscar Duarte last December 2 in Houston, Texas. The feat put him back in the win column after a seventh-round knockout defeat to Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis (29-0, 27KOs) in their non-title fight last April 22 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Ryan Garcia blasts Oscar Duarte with a hook. Photo: Golden Boy Promotions
Davis-Garcia was the highest-grossing boxing event of 2023, though Garcia has used that opportunity to reshape his own career and become a star on his own merit. Those changes included a trainer switch to Derrick James, with the win over Duarte marking their first official fight together.
Las Vegas’ Haney became a two-division titlist one week after Garcia’s win, when he dominated Regis Prograis over twelve rounds to win the WBC 140-pound title. The bout headlined a December 9 DAZN Pay-Per-View from Chase Center in his birth town of San Francisco, California.
It marked the official end to Haney’s undisputed and Ring Magazine lightweight championship reign, as he abdicated the throne prior to the bout. Haney held the WBC lightweight title since October 2019 and made seven successful defenses.
Three defenses came with The Ring championship at stake as well as every major sanctioning body title. Haney twice defeated George Kambosos Jr. (21-2. 10KOs) to fully unify and subsequently defend the crown in their pair of 2022 bouts in Melbourne, Australia. His final championship defense came in a 12-round, unanimous decision over former three-division titlist and former 135-pound Ring champion Vasiliy Lomachenko (17-3, 11KOs) last May 20 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Devin Haney scored the most significant victory of his career by outpointing Vasiliy Lomachenko. Photo by Naoki Fukuda
Despite wins by both Garcia and Haney on back-to-back weekends in the final month of 2023, their initial talks barely extended into the new year. Garcia abandoned negotiations with WBA 140-pound titlist Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero to pursue Haney’s WBC title before he abruptly broke off in January to revisit a potential Romero clash on the reserved April 20 date.
Garcia was led to believe that a fight with Romero was close, only to learn through the media that Romero would instead face Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz as part of a March 30 Amazon Prime PPV event in Las Vegas.
From there, Haney and Garcia picked up where they previously left off to swiftly reach a deal.
News of the site comes on the heels of a recently announced two-city press tour, to take place Feb. 27 at Palladium Times Square in New York City and on Feb. 29 at AVALON in Los Angeles. Both events are open to the public.
Jake Donovan is the newest member of The Ring family.. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox
READ THE MARCH ISSUE OF THE RING FOR FREE VIA THE NEW APP NOW. SUBSCRIBE NOW TO ACCESS MORE THAN 10 YEARS OF BACK ISSUES.
The post Devin Haney-Ryan Garcia event lands at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York appeared first on The Ring.