NEW YORK – Rolando Romero was thoroughly entertained by the Devin Haney-Ryan Garcia fight.

A year later, however, Romero remains perplexed by Haney’s strategy. Had Haney boxed the way he typically does, Garcia’s upcoming opponent thinks he would’ve defeated Garcia in their 12-round welterweight fight in April 2024 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Romero sensed that Haney was hellbent on knocking out Garcia, whom Gervonta Davis stopped with a body shot in the seventh round two fights earlier. Underestimating Garcia cost Haney, according to Romero, because Haney spent too much time trading with a more powerful puncher who appeared readier than Haney seemed to expect, both mentally and physically.

“I don’t know why Devin went out there like that,” Romero told The Ring while promoting his fight against Garcia on Friday night at Times Square in Manhattan. “I mean, Devin truly believed he was gonna knock Ryan out. And with a history of never knocking nobody out, I don’t know why he did that. If Devin would’ve fought the way he normally fights, it would’ve been different.

“But Ryan can crack. Ryan, if he hits you with that one punch, it can be a problem. So, I just didn’t like Devin’s game plan in the fight. Ryan fought well. He dropped him multiple times, more times than they counted. But it was a good fight. It was a very entertaining fight.”

Garcia’s trademark left hook hurt Haney only 40 seconds into the opening round. Haney had plenty of success during their 12-rounder and displayed grit he never needed to show before that night in reaching the final bell of their DAZN Pay-Per-View main event.

Garcia dropped Haney three times – once each in the seventh, 10th and 11th rounds. A determined Haney beat referee Havey Dock’s count after every knockdown and made their back-and-forth fight very competitive on the scorecards.

Judge Max De Luca scored their fight a draw, 112-112, in spite of Haney hitting the canvas three times. Haney won seven rounds according to De Luca.

Judges Robin Taylor (115-109) and Eric Marlinski (114-110) respectively scored eight and seven rounds for Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs, 1 NC). Dock deducted a point from Garcia because the Victorville, California native hit Haney when Dock called for a break in the seventh round.

The scorecards were rendered irrelevant because Garcia tested positive for ostarine, a substance banned by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association. The New York State Athletic Commission subsequently suspended Garcia for a year, fined him $1.2 million and changed the result of their fight from a majority-decision win for him to a no-contest.

If Garcia gets by Romero (16-2, 13 KOs) in the main event Friday night and Haney (31-0, 15 KOs, 1 NC) beats Jose Ramirez (29-2, 18 KOs) in the co-feature, Garcia and Haney have agreed to fight again sometime in October.

The Ring’s “FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves” pay-per-view show will also include a 12-round bout between Ring and WBO junior welterweight champ Teofimo Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) and Arnold Barboza Jr. (32-0, 11 KOs), the WBO interim 140-pound champion. Barboza, of El Monte, California, is The Ring’s third-rated contender for one of the championships owned by Las Vegas’ Lopez.

This four-fight event will be the first of two DAZN Pay-Per-View shows on back-to-back nights. Consumers in the United States can buy this card for $59.99 or bundle it with Riyadh Season’s matches May 3 for $89.99.

Canelo Alvarez will headline the card Saturday night. The Mexican superstar will attempt to reunify all of the sport’s super middleweight titles when Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) encounters Cuban William Scull (23-0, 9 KOs) in a 12-round fight for Alvarez’s Ring, WBA, WBC and WBO 168-pound championships and Scull’s IBF belt.