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Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney ready to shine, but can underdogs Romero and Ramirez prevent a super-fight?
The first ever Ring Magazine USA card - taking place at Times Square in the city that never sleeps this Friday - looks a belter.
Boxing's anti-hero Ryan Garcia will clash with the swaggering Rolly Romero, while former undisputed lightweight boss Devin Haney battles former world champion Jose Carlos Ramirez.
For added spice there's a WBO junior-welterweight world title fight between Teo Lopez and Arnold Barboza Jr and you've got Oscar De La Hoya (Golden Boy Promotions) and Eddie Hearn (Matchroom Boxing) – two men who have had serious beef historically - co-promoting.
In life, there are no coincidences, and it is no secret that this card has been put together as a tasty hors d'oeuvre before a sumptuous main course in Saudi in October where the plan is for Garcia and Haney to rematch.
A year ago last weekend heavy underdog Garcia knocked Haney down three times in their first meeting, en route to a points decision win despite missing weight. However, his victory later was overturned to a no-contest after he tested positive for a banned substance before the fight.
Ergo, Garcia's matchup with Romero this Friday will be his first professional fight since receiving a one-year suspension for his positive test (his ban expired on April 20).
Haney is a 1/14 shot to beat Ramirez with DAZN BET, which means you have to lay down 14 bones to win one if you are betting straight up on the fight winner.
It’s a similar story for Garcia, who despite his career being in limbo for the past year is a 1/10 favourite with the odds compilers to get the win against Romero.
DAZNSo the stars, and the odds, seem to be aligning for Haney v Garcia II, but this is the fight game, where torn up scripts and seismic shocks are par for the course.
The 16-2 (13) Romero is a solid operator, and he will know that a win in NYC will breathe new life into his career. It’s a fact that he has lost the two biggest fights of his career to date – against Tank Davis and Isaac Cruz – but he can bang and he will be hoping King Ry is a little rusty after his year in exile.
Much of Romero’s success comes from his trademark awkwardness, and he has the power to trouble Garcia if he can land clean and often.
Rolly also won’t be intimidated by Garcia, who has been busy changing things up behind the scenes in the past few months.
Garcia has joined forces with American trainer Derrick James after ending a brief spell under Eddy Reynoso - the head coach of Canelo Alvarez – and so Rolly will hope that he comes into this either undercooked or potentially caught between two styles given Reynoso and James are poles apart stylistically as trainers.
The biggest issue for Romero is his lack of elusiveness and the fact he can leave his chin in the air and move back in straight lines when put undern pressure. Those aren’t great traits as a pro but are potentially catastrophic against someone with the punching power and accuracy of Garcia.
Betting money lines are all well and good, but it’s fact that in the gambling world favourites get turned over all the time. I know this from personal experience. Indeed, my luck is that bad currently if I bought a cemetery people would simply stop dying.
And we all know what happened when David took on Goliath, the giant, seemingly unbeatable Philistine warrior. It is after all the greatest underdog story ever told.
Fundamentals key to strong showing
The 29-2 (18) Ramirez goes off as a heavy betting outsider against Haney but while we don’t know what the odds were on young shepherd boy David seeing off the Philistine warrior from Gath back in the day, he was probably a bigger price than the 6/1 on offer about Ramirez here who, given his pedigree, is certainly not without hope.
While not a puncher of note, Ramirez has strong fundamentals and a great work ethic in the ring.
He has beaten some solid names such as Jose Zepeda, Maurice Hooker and Viktor Postol, but came up short on his biggest night against Josh Taylor, losing their undisputed junior-welterweight title clash in Las Vegas just over four years ago.
He has gone 3-1 since and was last seen losing unanimously on points to Barboza Jr in Riyadh back in November.
Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy/Getty Images
At his best Haney stays outside and picks his shots well. He has a strong jab, moves his head well in the way all good counter-punchers do yet is not noted for his in-fighting skills.
‘The Dream’ has also been out for a year since that first Garcia bout, and so if Ramirez is to spring a shock here, he will likely need to get inside and make it rough.
Make no mistake, both Romero and Ramirez have been chosen as dance partners for a reason in the Big Apple.
While the smart money is on them both losing on Friday night so Haney and Garcia can rematch later this year in a super-fight, young David showed all those years ago that upsets do happen and that there’s an art to battling giants.
Watch two incredible fight nights this week only on DAZN
Fight fans are in for a treat this week, with two amazing fight exclusively DAZN PPV.
- May 2: Ryan Garcia vs Rolly Romero; Devin Haney vs Jose Ramirez; Teofimo Lopez vs Arnold Barboza Jr.
- May 3: Canelo Alvarez vs William Scull
Fight fans can purchase either these fight nights individually for $59.99 US; £/€21.99 UK/IRE; $24.99 ROW per PPV or take advantage of the DAZN Knockout Weekend Bundle where both fight cards can be purchased for $90 US; £34.99 UK and €34.99 Europe.
