If Ryan Garcia had it his way, he’d be facing Teofimo Lopez Jr. instead of Rolando Romero, and archrival Devin Haney wouldn’t even get a chance at an anticipated rematch.

But Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) doesn’t have the luxury of controlling all of the cards as he prepares to fight for time since serving a one-year suspension for testing positive for the performance enhancing drug ostarine following the Haney fight last year.

Each of the principals above will be involved during Ring Magazine’s card on May 2 in New York’s Times Square on DAZN PPV, as Garcia faces Rolando Romero, Haney takes on Jose Ramirez, and Lopez defends his Ring and WBO junior welterweight titles against Arnold Barboza Jr.

If Garcia and Haney win their respective matchups, they’re slated for a sequel later this year. Garcia originally won the first fight by majority decision after dropping Haney three times, but the result was later ruled a No Contest after the PED findings were revealed.

“There really shouldn't be a rematch, to be honest. I'm just doing it for Turki [Alalshikh]. It wasn't close. I beat him easily,” Garcia told The Ring in an interview. “I wanted to go after Teofimo. That's why me and him chirp more than anybody else. That's who I really wanted to fight for the next big one. And I actually wanted to fight Isaac Cruz, but Pitbull pulled out.”

Garcia will be making his welterweight debut against Romero. Lopez, meanwhile, is still fighting at 140 pounds and has been seeking the right fights at 147 pounds.

Garcia and Lopez were both interested in the services of Eddy Reynoso for their respective fights, but the situation got murky once Canelo Alvarez agreed to fight William Skull on May 4 in Saudi Arabia.

“Ain't no trainer is going to help [Lopez]. That's the problem,” said Garcia. “Trainers can't fight for you. Teofimo is on a good one right now, but humble pie can come real quick. It can be [the biggest fight of 2026 if we fight], for sure, if everything plays out perfectly. But we've seen him get upset by [George] Kambosos, and Barboza is no slouch. And Ramirez is no slouch either. We can't count him out either. Anything can happen.”

Instead of reuniting with his former coach Reynoso, Garcia has continued training with Derrick James while adding Manny Pacquiao’s longtime strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune to the team.

“[Fortune] has a lot of experience training champions and he's very well known,” said Garcia. “He's working my ass off. I know it's going to pay dividends and all of this hard work will show in the ring.”