NEW YORK – Ryan Garcia is open to a suddenly more relevant rematch, too.
A dejected Garcia knows
his poor performance against Rolando “Rolly” Romero on Friday night diminished the marketability of his second showdown with Devin Haney. Garcia and Haney signed contracts to fight again sometime in October before Garcia stunningly lost to Romero in the main event of
The Ring’s “FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves” card in Times Square.
Romero isn’t contractually obligated to a rematch with Garcia, but there is seemingly more interest in them fighting again than Garcia and Haney.
“You know, whatever the fans want,” Garcia said during his post-fight press conference. “If they want me to, you know, run it back with Rollies, let’s do it. If they want me to go straight for Devin, let’s do it. You know, styles make fights. And, yeah, I’m willing to fight any of them again.”
The 26-year-old Garcia was an 11-1 favorite over Romero according to DraftKings. The heavy-handed Romero (17-2, 13 KOs) dropped Garcia with a left hook early in the second round, though, and methodically outboxed the taller, rangier Garcia to pull off a huge upset.
Romero won 10 rounds on judge Waleska Roldan’s scorecard (118-109). Judges Tony Paolillo (115-112) and Tom Schreck (115-112) scored seven rounds apiece for Romero, a former WBA super lightweight champion who was stopped in two of his previous four bouts by Gervonta “Tank” Davis and Isaac Cruz.
Haney (32-0, 15 KOs, 1 NC) won his 12-round bout against Jose Ramirez (29-3, 18 KOs) by big margins on all three scorecards in the 12-round co-feature Friday night. The former undisputed lightweight champion didn’t impress, either, because he was extremely cautious in his first fight since Garcia dropped him three times 53 weeks earlier at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Between
Haney’s reluctance to engage and Garcia’s loss, their rematch would be much tougher to sell on pay-per-view than their first fight. Garcia (24-2, 20 KOs, 1 NC) won that bout by majority decision, though the result was changed to a no-contest because Garcia tested positive for Ostarine, a banned substance.
Whoever Garcia fights next, he expects that bout to be contested at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds. Haney and Ramirez met at a contracted catch weight of 144 pounds.
Garcia came in 3.2 pounds overweight for his fight with Haney. The contracted maximum for that fight was 140 pounds, but that isn’t a weight Garcia can make anymore.
“Yeah, I mean, I feel like I’ll stay at welterweight,” said Garcia, who fought as a full-fledged welterweight for the first time Friday night. “I didn’t really feel too much different because, you know, I walk around like 160. So, it’s not really like too much of a difference for me. But today I didn’t feel good at all, obviously. But as far as like did I feel any different? Just weight-wise, maybe a little slower. I don’t know, maybe a little slower.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing.