New Year's Resolutions for Boxing: For Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia to have their grudge rematch and settle their rivalry

Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia were on a collision course toward a rematch last May.

Haney upheld his end of the deal in the co-feature, outpointing Jose Ramirez by unanimous decision in Times Square, New York City. However, Garcia was knocked down toward a unanimous decision upset loss at the hands of Rolando Romero in the main event and just like that, plans for the sequel were momentarily derailed.

Less than a year later, though, the onus will once again be on Garcia to pave the way toward a rematch with Haney.

That brings us to DAZN News’ sixth New Year’s Resolution for boxing in 2026.

For Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia to have their grudge rematch and settle their rivalry

(Golden Boy / Cris Esqueda)

This past November, Haney dropped Brian Norman Jr. early en route to a unanimous decision boxing clinic to claim the WBO welterweight world title.

Garcia has announced that he will be challenging for Mario Barrios’ WBC welterweight title on February 21.

If Garcia is successful in that fight, there would not be a better time than later this year for their highly-anticipated rematch to occur. Hell, one could even argue it needs to happen if ‘King Ry’ loses to Barrios, but a win would certain sweeten the pot.

Such a scenario would pit champion against champion in a unification bout that would also settle rivalry steeped with bad blood.

When the two met in Brooklyn, New York back in April 2024, Garcia turned ‘The Dream’ into a nightmare, dropping Haney three times toward a riveting majority decision win to become the new WBC super lightweight world champion.

However, the aftermath of the bout had Garcia testing positive for the performance-enhancing drug ostarine and being suspended for a year. His majority decision victory was turned into a no contest. That also changed Haney’s record (33-0, 15 KOs) from counting one smudge against his name to back to being spotless.

Despite the no contest preserving his undefeated record, some critics and fans alike vowed ‘The Dream’ would never be the same fighter.

Fighting a bit tentative in a unanimous decision over Ramirez did not help his cause, though an outclassing of Norman Jr. was more of a return to form.

While Garica has exchanged heated words with Conor Benn and Eddie Hearn even sees a path toward the British fighter challenging the Barrios-Garcia winner as soon as May, Haney vs. Garcia II still needs to happen. There would be more on the line in that rematch for both rivals. This year would be ideal.

Everything is lined up, especially if Garcia is able to take the title off of Barrios.

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