WBC junior welterweight champion Devin Haney is hoping to finalize a fight against Ryan Garcia for the first half of 2024.
Haney is coming off one of the best performances of his career – a one-sided beating of Regis Prograis to capture the WBC strap. It was Haney’s debut bout at 140-pounds.
Earlier this year, Garcia was knocked out by Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, but he already bounced back with a recent knockout of Oscar Duarte.
Haney’s team is currently in active negotiations with Garcia’s handlers and the boxer’s promotional team led by Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions.
“[The Garcia fight is] something that we’re talking about,” Haney said to The MMA Hour. “We’re in negotiations with Oscar and Ryan, Ryan’s lawyer, Ryan’s team. It could very much be what’s next.”
For the fight with Garcia, Haney plans to involve promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing. After working with Top Rank for his last three fights, Haney went back to Hearn to for the Prograis bout.
“We’re still in the beginning stages of negotiations, so we’ve just got to see,” Haney said. “But definitely Matchroom is part of the team for sure.”
At lightweight, Haney became the undisputed champion after back to back victories over George Kambosos. He then made his pay-per-view debut with a close decision win over three division champion Vasiliy Lomachenko.
Now Haney’s focus is shifting away from winning world titles. Instead, he’s gunning to make the biggest financially lucrative fights happen.
“My thing now is I’ve accomplished everything in the lightweight division. I became undisputed, I got all the belts, I did all that. Now it’s about making the biggest fights happen for the most money and that’s a formality,” Haney said.
Credit: Boxing Scene