Devin Haney has admitted that he was in denial over things he did wrong in preparation for his fight with Ryan Garcia last April.

The 26-year-old is preparing to fight Jose Ramirez in a 144-pound catchweight bout in the co-main event of Ring Magazine's first ever US card on Friday night at Times Square, which is in collaboration with SNK Games, creators of FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves - live on DAZN PPV.

Former undisputed lightweight champion Haney (31-1, 15 KOs) went into his bout with Garcia a year ago as a betting favourite but was dropped three times en route to a unanimous decision defeat at Brooklyn's Barclays Center.

The build-up to the fight was tumultuous, with plenty of observers of the belief that Garcia was in no mental state to compete; their theories perhaps vindicated when the Californian turned up to the weigh-in three pounds over the contracted junior-welterweight limit with a beer bottle in hand.

Eventual victor Garcia, however, failed two separate pre-fight VADA tests for the banned substance Ostarine and the result was overturned to a no contest.

Haney still had issues defending Garcia's left hook all night, and he admits that even though his opponent had performance-enhancing drugs in his system, he still needed to turn in a better performance.

"I’ve been in denial over the things I was doing wrong," he said at the Fatal Fury open workouts. "Ryan did things like take PEDs but I still didn’t fight a perfect fight, I had to go back to the drawing board and correct things, and you guys will see that.

"If you remember, I was a totally different person before the Ryan fight, I have more energy, I have more discipline coming into this fight [with Ramirez], I’m still young, I had to correct some things even though I’ve accomplished so yet. I came into camp in shape, disciplined, my weight is good, I’m not depleted.

"Whatever happened in that fight happened, now it’s time for me to move on.

"You’ve gotta prove yourself time and time again, just like any other sport, LeBron [James] does it and I gotta do the same. Ramirez looks sharp, I watched his workout, Friday night will be a good one, I’ll look to go in there and handicap him."

If Haney wins on Friday, and Garcia beats Rolando Romero in the main event, the pair are scheduled to meet in a rematch later this year, potentially in October.

"We all know what the fans wanna see," Haney added. "It’s unfinished  business [with Ryan], I’ll finish this first and then we’ll get to that."

On his bout with Ramirez, who lost his last fight against Arnold Barboza Jr, Haney is adamant that the Fresno native is the type of fighter that will make him look good.

"This is a mismatch." Haney said. "It’s a great fight on paper, he has a tailor-made style for me, he’ll put the pressure, if he comes in stupid then I’ll put him down.

"Styles make fights, he does a lot of good and a lot of bad, it’s my job to go and exploit the bad things he does.

"Right now Ramirez is on my menu, once I finish breakfast, we’ll get onto lunch, but we start with Ramirez."