Devin Haney is excited to make his Barclays Center debut on April 20 against Ryan Garcia, in what will be Haney’s first defense of his WBC world super-lightweight title.
The location of the fight, however, is a point of contention for Garcia. Last week he posted on the social media platform X that he would do everything he could to get the fight moved from Brooklyn, New York, to Las Vegas – in particular, the MGM Grand on the Las Vegas Strip.
“This is a MGM Vegas fight, doing everything we can to bring this to Vegas and giving this fight what it deserves,” Garcia posted on X. He added that his desire to move the fight to Vegas is solely a business decision.
“This decision has nothing to do with NYC but everything to do with business and what I believe is the best move for my career.”
Garica’s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, confirmed the Haney-Garcia fight last week, much to the annoyance of his prodigy Garcia, seemingly fracturing the already uneasy fighter-promoter relationship.
Haney, who appeared on the MMA Hour, revealed details about how the Barclays was selected as the venue, while adding that steering clear of Canelo Alvarez’s proposed fight date was a priority in order to avoid any potential loss of revenue for all parties, including Canelo.
“Canelo is fighting two weeks after us, on May 4,” Haney told the MMA Hour. “They [DAZN, which will broadcast Haney-Garcia] did not want us fighting on Canelo’s date, messing up his gate [from PPV sales].
“Big events like this do not happen like that when it is back-to-back, especially in boxing, so that is when New York came up. I heard about it the night before [the announcement], and I said I was all for it, and then it was announced.”
With Las Vegas off the table, Haney believes New York City is an ideal location for the fight to take place. He highlighted the heavy promotion a New York fight generates compared to other venues in the United States.
“The best next spot was New York,” he said. “I agreed to go there, and I love New York. It is the media capital of the world, [so] we will get so many eyeballs and so much promotion. I love it.”
In response to Garcia’s misgivings about New York, Haney confirmed that the fight is contractually obliged to take place at Barclays.
“Queen Ryan doesn’t like it, but he can go and cry about it,” Haney said.
“We signed a contract, it is here, and this is where it will be.”