Devin Haney insists that his loss last April to Ryan Garcia were the result of “flaws,” and he’s already fixed them for his next fight against Jose Ramirez on May 2nd.

Fixed “Flaws”?

The flaws that Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) talks about are the inability to block the left hook, which led to him getting dropped three times by Ryan in their fight on April 20th at the Barclays Center. However, without Devin making changes to his habit of constant holding, he could fall victim to being hit with the same left hooks that Garcia was pasting on him.

The former WBC and WBO light welterweight champion Ramirez (29-2, 18 KOs) has more in his arsenal than just the left hook. So, if Haney has focused his training camp and year out of the ring on taking away the left hook, it might not be enough to save him from losing to Ramirez. He punches hard with his right hand as well.

The Chin Factor

The real problem that Haney has that can’t be fixed in the gym is his weak chin. He can’t take a punch well, and we’ve seen that since his days at lightweight. Jorge Linares had Devin hurt, and so did Joseph Diaz and Vasily Lomachenko.

“In that fight, I showed flaws. I went back to the drawing board and went back to the gym, and I made those corrections, and I look to show them on May 2nd,” said Devin Haney to Ring Magazine about having improved from the mistakes he made in his last fight against Ryan Garcia.

Todd Grisham: “Do you think moving forward, you’re going to be a little more conservative, a little more defensive-minded in your next fight?”

Devin Haney: “No, I can’t say that. Like I said, I just had to correct the mistakes that I made [against Ryan], and I will show the difference on May 2nd.”

If Haney loses to Ramirez, he’ll need to go back to the drawing board and work on taking away another weapon. I don’t think any of it’s going to work if his fragile chin betrays him. He can’t neutralize every weapon in Ramirez or Ryan Garcia’s toolkit without running for 12 rounds.