Tim Bradley thinks it’s a stupid idea for Devin Haney to take a rematch with Ryan Garcia without first having a rehab fight to get himself back in shape after his loss last April.
It’s risky for Haney to jump straight into a rematch with Ryan without making sure he can still take a shot without diving to the canvas, as he did repeatedly in his 12-round majority decision loss to Garcia on April 20. If it weren’t for the mega-millions that Haney is putting at risk, a warm-up fight would be smart.
However, if Haney takes a tune-up, he might lose; if that happens, all the money he gets from the rematch with Garcia will be gone. There is no way they can sell a second fight under those circumstances.
Haney’s father, Bill Haney, recently appeared ready to arrange a rematch with Ryan until Kingry rejected the idea. He intended not to.
Bill gave Ryan a 48-hour deadline to submit to drug testing to get the ball rolling, and who knows what other hoops he’d want him to jump through if he agreed.
Of course, Ryan did not go that idea of reporting for drug testing, since there is still a lawsuit out, he is still suspended until April 2025, and there is no contract signed.
Bill should have used a better strategy to tell Ryan that he will drop the lawsuit and discuss when they can fight again and at what weight. Given how big both fighters are, 147 would be the logical weight, if not 154.
“I don’t think Devin Haney should go into a rematch right away. I think this is the stupidest thing. He’s making another mistake if he jumps right in and doesn’t test himself in a new weight class at 147 or even try to make 140 again. I don’t know. I think he’s going to move up,” Tim Bradley said Probox TV about Devin Haney making a mistake if he wants Ryan Garcia when he returns from his suspension in 2025.
If Haney could handle the power of the welterweights, doing a tune-up would be the right thing for him. It doesn’t seem likely that he will do well to handle the punches of fighters at 147. The fight against Ryan last April may have done something to Haney’s hit resistance, making him prone to injury. We don’t know. Taking a risky tune-up would be a bad way to find out.
“He should get a fight in between before he even talks about a rematch with Ryan Garcia just to see where he’s at physically,” Bradley said.
Haney probably won’t take a tune-up because there’s so much money he can make in the rematch with Ryan. It would be insane for him to do. If there was someone who had no power, and was much smaller than Haney, it would make sense to take a tune-up. I don’t think Haney wants to take the chance.
“I don’t think we’ll ever see one of these guys near 140 again. Haney really struggled to make 140 for that fight (with Garcia). He was really exhausted to make that 140-lh limit,” Chris Algieri said of Haney’s last fight on April 20 against Ryan Garcia.
“Looks like Ryan is going to campaign at 168 with the way he’s been walking around lately. There’s no way he’s ever getting below 147 again. If there is a guy to fight, I think 147 would make sense. Ryan can roll out of bed, throw that left hook and knock out a horse.
“He doesn’t need a setup fight. He can come off a two-year ban or whatever and roll into a big fight because he’s a talented guy. He has it.
If you’re Haney, you don’t want to do a tune-up because he might lose or look bad about winning. For Haney to not be criticized by fans, he will have to fight a contender at 140 or 147
