From Garcia’s Punches to Ramirez’s Pressure: De La Hoya Believes Haney’s Recovery is Impossible, Rematch Hopes Dim

Promoter Oscar De La Hoya questions whether Devin Haney can come back from the brutal twelve rounds of punishment he sustained in his fight against Ryan Garcia last April. The 1992 Olympic gold medalist De La Hoya says that when fighters are beat up as severely as Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) was, “you don’t recover” to be the same.

(Credit: Golden Boy/Chris Esqueda)

Recovery Questioned 

Oscar predicts that Haney will fall apart in his next fight against Jose Ramirez on May 2nd on the Fatal Fury card at Times Square in New York City, long before he and Ryan get to fight in October. If what De La Hoya is true about Haney needing to defeat Ramirez (29-2, 19 KOs) to get the lucrative rematch with Kingry, the second fight will not happen.

Turki Alalshikh would still have to be willing to make the Garcia vs. Haney 2 rematch under less than favorable conditions. Maybe he would. If this fight is ONLY about entertainment and not sports, it doesn’t matter if Haney is blown out of the water by the former WBC and WBO light welterweight champion Ramirez.

Finishing What’s Left

Just go ahead and throw Haney in with Ryan anyway and enjoy the spectacle. I’m already expecting Ramirez to finish what’s left of Devin on May 2nd, and complete what Garcia started last April. Ramirez works three minutes of every round without taking rest breaks the way Ryan does, and if he gets Haney hurt, that’s it, game over. He won’t take the rest of the round off to catch his breath.

“Coming from a fighter’s perspective when you’re coming off a devastating loss to Ryan Garcia, it’s hard to come back from something like that,” said Oscar De La Hoya to Fight Hub TV, questioning whether Devin Haney will be the same fighter after the twelve round beating he took against Ryan Garcia in 2024.

It’s obvious why Haney hasn’t fought since his loss to Ryan last April. He’s likely hoping that the year off will let his head heal from those punishing left hooks that he was hit with for twelve rounds. In hindsight, Bill Haney should have pulled Devin out of the fight after the seventh round because it was a lost cause. He was helpless after that round, used as a punching bag for Ryan, who relished pouring it on his beaten nemesis.

Haney’s Psyche 

“When you get hit when [Jose] Ramirez lands a punch or two or three, is he [Haney] going to back differently than before he fought Ryan or after he fought him? So the psyche is interesting when he gets hit, how he gets hit, how he recovers or maybe he doesn’t recover.

“There’s a big difference getting hit one time, taking a knee and getting back up. Then getting hit, getting wobbled, getting hurt and getting beat up. There’s a big difference with that,” said De La Hoya talking about what happened with Haney in his fight with Ryan. “You don’t recover from that. It’s hard.

“Look, it’s still going to be a good fight. He took a year off, rested his body, his mind and his soul. Maybe, he’ll surprise us all,” said De La Hoya about Devin.