Ryan Garcia vs Rolando Romero, Devin Haney vs Jose Ramirez, and Teofimo Lopez vs Arnold Barboza Jr will hit New York in two months
Turki Alalshikh announced today that the previously revealed Ryan Garcia vs Rolando Romero-led tripleheader will land on May 2nd in New York’s Times Square, one day before Canelo Alvarez faces William Scull in Riyadh.
Of the original lineup, the main event and Devin Haney vs Jose Ramirez remain intact. For obvious reasons, Martin Bakole vs Efe Ajagba is no longer on the docket; while there were rumblings that the bout was still on track, that short a turnaround after that nasty a knockout would be asking for trouble.
Instead, Teofimo Lopez (21-1, 13 KO) will defend his WBO super lightweight title against Arnold Barboza Jr (32-0, 11 KO), who beat Jack Catterall for the interim belt earlier this month. Lopez has long derided Barboza and had his sights set on a unification bout with IBF titlist Richardson Hitchins, but he’ll kick off his tenure with Riyadh Season by making his first mandatory defense since taking the belt from Josh Taylor in 2023.
Probably the best-matched fight on the card, honestly. Romero should be a prime target for Garcia’s left hook if the latter’s BAC is under 0.10 and Barboza gave Haney the blueprint for defusing the aging Ramirez.
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