Devin Haney will return to the ring in January for his first fight since his debacle with Ryan Garcia last April.
Bill Haney has confirmed that his son, Devin (31-0, 15 KOs), will fight in January, but won’t say who it will be against. He had thought about December for the return of former two-division world champion Haney, but felt he needed additional time because it was too close.
Haney’s return
Some believe that Haney was stew over his slaughter loss to Ryan, returning to his mind and disturbed by what happened 227 days ago that night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Haney vs. Ryan Punch Stats
Garcia: 106 out of 386 for a 27% connection rate.
Haney: 87 of 586 for 15%
Predictably, Devin’s opponent will be a light puncher and likely a lower level fighter to make sure he doesn’t get hurt again. Promoter Eddie Hearn says he wants Haney to get an opponent at a tuning level to make sure he’s fine before he faces a tough test.
There are many questions about whether Devin, 26, is mentally and physically able to return from his wild fight against heavy puncher Ryan on April 20. Haney was dropped three times by Ryan in that fight. The fight could have and should have been stopped in that round.
Haney initially lost that fight via a 12-round majority decision, but the New York State Athletic Commission later removed the defeat due to Ryan testing positive for the banned PED Ostarine. The New York Commission announced Haney’s loss, but the damage had been done. The public still saw what Ryan had done to Haney, and many people no longer see him in the same light as they did before.
January Return
“I’m thinking about January. I was thinking about December, but it’s too close. So, we’re thinking about January. We’re going to get in there soon, though,” Bill Haney told VLADTV when asked when Devin Haney will fight next.
“We like to do a camp of eight, ten, twelve weeks. It depends. With the things I know about PEDS, you need a longer window to detect to prevent a fighter from taking advantage of a bike, being on that bike
“When the times when the phone didn’t ring, we knew it was the storm, and a man’s character is not judged by how he is in the storm, but how he deals with the storm,” said Bill.
Haney is still young enough to return from his test against Ryan, but it is important that he stays busy. It is not a sign that he will take so long to consider returning to the ring, because this will not help him to improve.
