Tim Bradley thinks it’s a dumb idea for Devin Haney to take a rematch with Ryan Garcia without taking a tune-up fight first to get himself back in form 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 nose-diving on the canvas like he repeatedly did in his 12-round majority decision loss against Garcia on April 20th. If there wasn’t the mega-millions that Haney is putting at risk, taking a warm-up fight would be smart.
However, if Haney takes a tune-up, he might lose; if that happens, all the money he would get from the rematch with Garcia would be gone. There’s no way they could sell a second fight under those conditions.
Haney’s father, Bill Haney, recently seemed ready to organize a rematch with Ryan until Kingry nixed that idea. He wasn’t going to do it.
Bill gave Ryan a 48-hour deadline to sign up for drug testing to get the ball rolling, and who knows what other hoops he would have wanted him to jump through if he’d agreed to that.
Naturally, Ryan didn’t go for that idea of signing up for drug testing, given that there’s still a lawsuit out, he’s still suspended until April 2025, and there’s no contract signed.
Bill should have used a better strategy to tell Ryan that he would drop the lawsuit and discuss when they could fight again and what weight. Given how huge both fighters are, 147 would be the logical weight, if not 154.
“I don’t think Devin Haney should go right into a rematch. I think it’s the dumbest thing. He’s making another mistake if he jumps right in and don’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,” said Tim Bradley to 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, taking a tune-up would be the right thing for him to do. It doesn’t seem likely that he would do well handling the punches from fighters at 147. The fight against Ryan last April may have done something to Haney’s punch resistance, making him prone to getting hurt. 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 is physically,” said Bradley.
Haney isn’t likely to take a tune-up because there’s so much money he can make in the rematch with Ryan. That would be insane for him to do. If there was someone that had zero power, and was much smaller than Haney, taking a tune-up would make sense. I don’t think Haney wants to take the chance.
“I don’t think we’ll ever see either of these guys near 140 again. Haney had a lot of trouble making 140 for that fight [with Garcia]. He was really drained making that 140-lh limit,” said Chris Algieri about Haney’s last fight on April 20th against Ryan Garcia.
“Ryan looks like he’s going to be campaigning at 168 with the way he walks around recently. There’s no way he ever comes in under 147 ever again. If there’s 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 tune-up fight. He can come off a two-year ban or whatever and roll into a big fight because he’s a talented guy. He’s got that.
If you’re Haney, you don’t want to take a tune-up because he might lose or look bad about winning. For Haney not to be criticized by fans, he would need to fight a contender at 140 or 147
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