What has the last year been like for Devin Haney? He entered a fight with a clearly unwell Ryan Garcia, got in the ring with him despite Garcia missing weight, then suffered a brutal beating and – in the moment – his first career loss. Then Haney learned that Garcia had twice tested positive for the banned substance ostarine, only to watch the boxing world largely turn on him for trying to take legal action as recourse.

Though the loss has been changed to a no-contest and more than 10 months have passed since Haney fought Garcia, the bout remains top of mind. Both men attended a Tuesday press conference in New York intended to hype a May 2 card in Times Square, in which Haney and Garcia will fight Jose Ramirez and “Rolly” Rolando Romero, respectively. If they win their fights, they are expected to rematch in the fall. During the press conference, everybody from emcee Doug Fischer to Oscar De La Hoya brought up Haney-Garcia I.

Haney, though, didn’t give much away. “Why the decision to lay out the rest of 2024?” Fischer asked him. “And why did you choose Jose Ramirez as the comeback opponent?”

“I took the year off, like I said I was going to,” Haney said. “I wanted to spend some time with my family. I just had a baby, stuff like that. I wanted to rest and recover, and I wanted to come back when I felt it was the right time.”

Haney then praised Ramirez’s pedigree and said he wanted to step right back into difficult matchups.

Fischer, playing the role of promoter, somewhat dubiously recalled the first fight: “There are folks who say, Devin, that you were exposed [against Garcia], even though you can say, you can argue that it wasn’t an even playing field. ... Do you feel that there are questions being asked of you, and that Jose Ramirez is going to ask those questions, and you can answer them in the ring?”

Said Haney: “At the end of the day, I fought somebody on PEDs. The world wants to see what Devin Haney’s going to show up, and I look to give everybody all those answers on May 2.”

It was a good answer, and an important reminder of why Garcia is serving a one-year ban from boxing. Questions about Haney’s in-ring performance persist: Is he still physically damaged as a result of the Garcia fight? Does he bear psychological damage from the shock of being so overpowered, and after touching the canvas with such regularity? Has the lack of support he has received from boxing – despite not being the participant in the fight who broke a contract by coming in overweight and testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs – taken a further mental toll?

All these are concerns that can only be smoothed over by a clinical victory. Haney will attempt to take a step closer to revenge against Garcia on May 2, but he must first overcome any internal battles that may still exist.

Owen Lewis is a former intern at Defector media and writes and edits for BoxingScene. His beats are tennis, boxing, books, travel and anything else that satisfies his meager attention span. He is on Bluesky.