Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney could suffer surprise defeats on their May card together in Times Square in New York. Ryan (24-1, 20 KOs) fights Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz, while Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) takes on former WBC/WBO 140-pound champion Jose Ramirez on the undercard of Turki Al-Sheikh .
Effects of layoffs
Ryan and Haney picked the wrong tuning opponents to compete against after 13 months of layoffs. 2012 Olympic champion Jose Ramirez (29-2, 18 KOs) and former WBA light welterweight champion Pitbull Cruz are not the right opponents for a fighter after a year of inactivity. These two would be a nightmare for Garcia and Devin even if they were active.
If Kingry and Haney had good punch resistance and could handle getting hit in the breadbasket, facing Ramirez and Cruz wouldn’t be a big deal. That is not the case. They are both fragile fighters who were broken in battle.
Garcia-Cruz is fought at a catchweight of 143 or 144 at welterweight, and that is perfect for 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 hit with more power.
Rayo probably would have been knocked out if he hadn’t used his new Lomachenko-esque move to escape the constant pressure from Cruz. Kingry doesn’t have the same movement ability and must fight at close range for three minutes each round. If Ryan doesn’t hurt Pitbull, he’s going to be in trouble.
50-50 fights
Turki gave fans two great 50-50 fights with his Garcia-Cruz & Haney-Ramirez doubleheader in Times Square. If he’s okay with Ryan and Devin potentially losing their fights, that’s great. Al-Sheikh is already planning for Garcia-Haney to have a rematch in Riyadh in October. This fight will be marred if one or both lose their votes in May.
That’s a better deal for fans on PPV than if these two were fed cans of tomatoes, as is common with wealthy high-profile fighters facing lengthy layoffs.
Jose Ramirez lost by a 10-round unanimous decision to top-ranked, undefeated light welterweight contender Arnold Barboza Jr. on November 16. This fight was hard fought.
If Barboza Jr. had been stationary, he wouldn’t have won because Ramirez overworked him when he was in the pocket. Devin doesn’t have the same evasive style as Barboza or his power. He won’t be able to do the same things he did to fend off Ramirez.