By: Sean Crose
Bitter rivals Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia will be fighting in May – just not against each other. On Monday, Saudi sports honcho Turki Alalshikh stated that Haney would be facing Jose Ramirez while the colorful Garcia would face the brash Rolly Romero. “The Ring Magazine,” Alalshikh announced on social media, “is excited to announce its first boxing card in USA this May 2025 in collaboration with the video game Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves (which the card will be named after) and SNK Games. The card includes three fights: Ryan Garcia vs Rolando Romero Devin Haney vs Jose Carlos Ramirez Martin Bakole vs Efe Ajagba Further details about venue and exact date will be announced later, stay tuned.”
The idea, of course, is for both Haney and Garcia emerge victorious this spring in order to arrange a rematch of their highly controversial bout last year. Garcia was able to dominate and drop Haney numerous times in route to a majority decision win when the two men met last April. The fight has subsequently been ruled a no contest due to the fact that Garcia tested positive for a banned substance both before and after the fight. Suffice to say, there’s a lot of bad blood between the two high profile fighters.
Before they can get it on again, though, it looks like both men may have their work cut out out for them. Garcia-Romero promises to be an exciting affair at the very least. Romero is a high octane and aggressive fighter. Only three of his thirteen wins haven’t come by way of knockout. What’s more, the guy’s two losses came at the gloved hands of Isaac Cruz and Gervonta Davis respectively. Those fighters are the opposite of tomato cans. While Garcia will likely and rightly enter the ring as the near prohibitive favorite, Romero is certainly no slouch – something Garcia might want to keep in mind.
As for Haney, he’ll be facing a challenge of his own. Jose Carlos Ramirez is a former junior welterweight titlist who has only lost two of his thirty-one fights. He’s also coming off a loss to Arnold Barboza, which means the man will have a lot to prove. No doubt the fighter known as “The Jaguar” knows this is not only a chance to turn his career around, but to truly upset the applecart. Defeating Haney would be a career defining victory for the 32 year old former titlist.
Yet Haney, like Garcia is no easy fight. On the contrary – there’s a reason these two will likely be considerable favorites come fight night.
