NEW YORK — Some liked it but it appears the overwhelming majority hated it.

Ryan Garcia spent much of his 12-round grudge fight against Devin Haney in total control. Nothing went right for former two-division champion, Haney, on that dark night in April 2024. Right hands, left hooks, jabs and body shots. You name it and, most likely, "The Dream" was on the receiving end of it.

At times, it was brutal to watch but after being dropped and dominated, Haney’s majority decision loss was overturned to a no-contest once it emerged Garcia failed two pre-fight drug tests, administered by VADA, for the banned substance Ostarine.

From there, Haney began making sense of it. There was no need to believe Garcia was the better fighter. So, after everything fell into place, he got himself into the gym and began working on his game. He vowed to get better. Questions still remain, regarding that statement, however.

Against Jose Ramirez on May 2, on The Ring's Times Square card, Haney (32-0, 15 KOs) constantly moved around the ring en route to a unanimous decision win. The 26-year-old has never been known as an all-out brawler but the sort of movement he used irked the crowd. By the time the 36 minutes of action were over, Haney and Ramirez left the ring without many visible marks. In total, Haney landed just 70 punches while Ramirez connected on 40.

Shakur Stevenson, unsurprisingly, was among many who wanted to see what Haney had in his tank. After observing him, he isn’t sure how to grade his performance. From his point of view, Haney could have done better. With that said, all he needs to do is fix one glaring issue.

“I think that he just needs to get a little more confident,” said Stevenson to several reporters recently. “If he gets his confidence back to 100% after what happened to him, you can tell he’ll be in a good position.”