The New York Athletic Commission has decided to ban rising star Ryan Garcia from boxing for one year, losing $1.1 million of his guaranteed purse, and the fight ruled a no-contest for his victory over Devin Haney on April 20th.
Haney’s unbeaten record has been restored to 31-0 as part of the no-contest, which he and his father, Bill Haney, had requested. It’s now as if the fight never happened, but fans will likely continue to remember Haney as having lost the fight.
“I really hope boxing is good without me,” said Ryan Garcia on X, reacting to his one-year ban from the sport. “They have turned their back on me.”
Devin Haney’s Response and Hiatus
Now that Haney’s unbeaten record has been restored, he announced that he’d be taking a year off from the sport, saying, “I’ll be back in one year. I had all the belts already. From now on, I’m fighting at whatever weight I choose, no longer fighting in weight classes.”
It’s believed that Haney is taking a year off to avoid being beaten. When he does come back, he can get a lucrative payday in the rematch with Ryan Garcia.
That’s the biggest money fight out there for Haney, and he can’t afford to put it at risk by staying active the next year while Ryan is suspended.
Haney will lose his WBC light welterweight title now that he’s choosing to take a year off, but he wasn’t keen on agreeing to the lowball $1.5 million purse for his mandated title shot against mandatory Sandor Martin in the fall.
That would have been a monstrous pay cut for Haney for what would have been a risky fight, which could have potentially messed up his chances of getting the rematch with Ryan.
The New York Commission artificially restored Haney’s record to the unbeaten state. Still, it didn’t change the fans’ memory of him getting knocked down repeatedly in the seventh round, along with knockdowns in the eighth and eleventh.
