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Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney could be coming off an upset loss on their May card together in New York’s Times Square. Ryan (24-1, 20 KOs) fights Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz while Hani (31-0, 15 KOs) takes on former WBC/WBO 140-lb champion Jose Ramirez on the Al Sheik card in Turkey.
The impact of a layoff
Ryan and Honey chose the wrong opponents to fight their 13-month layoff. 2012 Olympian Jose Ramirez (29-2, 18 KOs) and former WBA light welterweight champion Pitbull Cruz are not ideal opponents for any fighter coming off a year of inactivity. Those two would be a nightmare for Garcia and Devin even if they were active.
If Kingery and Haney have good punch resistance and can handle getting hit in the breadbasket, facing Ramirez and Cruz won’t be a big deal. That is not the case. Both are weak warriors broken by battle.
Garcia-Cruz will fight at welterweight at 143 or 144, and that suits the powerful 5’4″ Cruz (26-3-1, 18 KOs). In Pitbull’s two fights at 140 against Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela and Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero, he was hitting with more power.
If Rayo hadn’t used his new Lomachenko-esque moves to evade the constant pressure from Cruz, he could have fallen. Kingery doesn’t have the same mobility, and is forced to fight at close range for about three minutes per round. If Ryan can’t hurt Pitbull, he’s in trouble.
50-50 fights
Turkey’s Garcia-Cruz and Hany-Ramirez doubleheader gave fans two great 50-50 fights in Times Square. This is great if Ryan and Devin are okay with losing their fight. Al-Sheikh is already planning a Garcia-Haney rematch in October in Riyadh. If one or both of them lose their tone in May, that fight will be ruined.
This is a better deal for the fans at the PPV than if these two were fed cans of tomatoes, because for the rich, high-profile fighters would be fired for longer.
Jose Ramirez lost to undefeated light welterweight contender Arnold Barboza Jr. in a 10-round decision on November 16th. That fight was competitive.
Barboza Jr. wouldn’t have won if he was steady because Ramirez would have done it when he was in the pocket. Devin doesn’t have the same evasive strategy as Barboza, nor does he possess the power. He can’t do the same thing he did to fight Ramirez.
