Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney could be closing in on upset losses in their shared May card in New York’s Times Square. Ryan (24-1, 20 KOs) fights Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz while Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) faces former WBC/WBO 140-lb champion Jose Ramirez on Turki Al-Sheikh’s card.
Layoff impact
Ryan and Haney picked the wrong draft opponents to fight after 13-month layoffs. 2012 Olympian Jose Ramirez (29-2, 18 KOs) and former WBA light welterweight champion Pitbull Cruz are not the right opponents for either fighter to face after a year of inactivity. Those two would be a nightmare for Garcia and Devin even if they were active.
If Kingry and Haney had good hit resistance and could handle being hit against the breadbasket, then facing Ramirez and Cruz wouldn’t be much of a problem. This is not the case. They are both fragile warriors broken in battle.
Garcia-Cruz will be fought at a catchweight of 143 or 144 at welterweight, which is perfect for the powerful 5’4″ Cruz (26-3-1, 18 KOs). In Pitbull’s two fights at 140 against Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela and Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero, he hit with more power.
Rayo probably would have been knocked out had he not used his new Lomachenko-esque movement to evade the constant pressure from Cruz. Kingry does not possess the same ability to move, and he will be forced to fight in close quarters for three minutes of each round. If Ryan fails to hurt Pitbull, he will be in trouble.
50-50 fights
Turki gave fans two great 50-50 fights with his Garcia-Cruz & Haney-Ramirez doubleheader at Times Square. If he’s okay with Ryan and Devin potentially losing their fights, that’s great. Al-Sheikh is already planning for Garcia-Haney to fight a rematch in October in Riyadh. That battle will be tainted if one or both lose their tune-ups in May.
It’s a better deal for fans on PPV than when these two are fed tomato cans, as is the custom for rich high-profile fighters coming off long layoffs.
Jose Ramirez won a 10 round unanimous decision against highly rated undefeated light welterweight contender Arnold Barboza Jr. on November 16th. lose. That battle was competitive.
If Barboza Jr. stood still, he wouldn’t have won because Ramirez overworked him when he was in the bag. Devin doesn’t have the same elusive style as Barboza, nor does he possess his power. He won’t be able to do the same things he did fighting Ramirez.
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