Devin Haney has little confidence in Ryan Garcia’s legitimate willingness to fight Gervonta Davis later this year.
In fact, Haney doesn’t expect Garcia to follow through on any of the challenges he has issued publicly. The undefeated, fully unified lightweight champion considers Garcia’s talk on social media and elsewhere to be just that – talk.
“I don’t really take Garcia too serious,” Haney told BoxingScene.com. “He says a lot. The guy said he was fighting Pacquiao, and that never happened. So, I can’t really take him too serious.”
Haney definitely doesn’t think that the polarizing Garcia will want to challenge him for his IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO lightweight titles. The 23-year-old Haney pointed out that Garcia, a former WBC interim lightweight champion, guaranteed himself an opportunity to fight for Haney’s WBC world lightweight title, yet he never took that championship chance.
“The guy was my mandatory two, three times, and we never fought,” Haney said. “You know, I could never take him too serious.”
The 23-year-old Garcia (22-0, 18 KOs), of Victorville, California, is scheduled to box Dominican southpaw Javier Fortuna (37-3-1, 26 KOs, 2 NC) in a 12-round main event DAZN will stream July 16 from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Garcia has repeatedly stated in recent weeks that he wants to battle Baltimore’s Davis (27-0, 25 KOs) in what would be a very marketable matchup after he defeats Fortuna next month.
Garcia was scheduled to fight Fortuna last July 9 at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles, but Garcia withdrew from their bout soon after it was announced to deal with his mental health issues. Fortuna instead lost a 12-round unanimous decision to Joseph Diaz Jr. (32-2-1, 15 KOs), who won the then-vacant WBC interim lightweight title Garcia gave up.
Haney then out-boxed Diaz and won their 12-round title bout by unanimous decision December 4 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Haney (28-0, 15 KOs) is contractually obligated to grant George Kambosos Jr. an immediate rematch. Sydney’s Kambosos (20-1, 10 KOs), who lost a unanimous decision to Haney on June 5 at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, has said he expects his second shot at Haney to take place sometime in November in Australia.
Haney agreed to an immediate rematch with Kambosos in Australia as part of the three-fight agreement he made late in March with promoters Bob Arum and Lou DiBella. If he beats Kambosos again, the Henderson, Nevada resident informed BoxingScene.com that three-division champion Vasiliy Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs) and Davis, the WBA’s secondary 135-pound champion, are the two opponents he would be interested in facing if he were to remain within the lightweight division.
Regardless, the Oakland native hopes his contemporaries, namely Garcia and Davis, follow his lead by embracing the most difficult fights.
“I’m the guy that was calling out the top fighters for so long,” Haney said. “And when I finally got my chance to do it, I rose to the occasion. So, you know, the young guys take notes and the old guys who’ve been watching, take notes, because I’m the guy that, you know, I talk it, but I walk it.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.