Can Devin Haney Return To Form?

By: Sean Crose

While it’s true Devin Haney won his battle against Joseph Ramirez last Friday night in Time’s Square, it’s pretty much a given fact that the majority of fans and analysts found his performance to be a dud. And why wouldn’t they have? Haney’s primary goal that night may well have been to avoid getting hit clean by Ramirez. While he certainly won the match fair and square, the San Francisco native didn’t exactly impress those curious to see how he would come back from the thrashing he took at the gloved fists of Ryan Garcia a year earlier.

As everyone now knows, however, a banned substance was found in Garcia’s system around the time of the bout. The fight was then essentially declared null and void. What’s more, Garcia was suspended for a full year. On top of all that, Garcia ended getting bested in his own ring return Friday in New York, being dropped and decisioned by the considerable underdog Roland “Rolly” Romero. Haney may have looked bad last week, but Garcia looked even worse. People are now arguing that Garcia lost because he didn’t have the help of performance enhancement drugs against Romero. That may or may not be true, but it ultimately doesn’t seem to matter for Haney.

Why? Because for whatever reason Haney was beaten severely by Garcia that night in 2024, so severely that it may have altered the way Haney fought in the ring last weekend in New York. Still, it’s up to Haney now to leave the past behind if possible. The question is whether or not he can. Should Haney now be a shell of his former self, that’s a considerable tragedy. If he can regain his old spark, however, Haney can once again be a force to be reckoned with. At his best, he’s quite an impressive fighter.

Boxing is nothing if not a strange endeavor. For every crushing defeat there seems to be a comeback story to balance things out. George Foreman epitomized this by being both the image of defeat and the picture of a glorious return over the course of a few decades. Although not a thrilling fighter, Haney is a high octane pro. Before last weekend his fights never came across as boring. His battle against Vasyl Lomachenko, for instance, was a blazer. Here’s hoping that version of Haney is able to return. It would be good for the health of the sport.