By Elliot Worsell
RATHER oddly, no sooner had a venue been introduced for the large super-lightweight combat between Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia than considered one of its contributors, Ryan Garcia, tried doing all he may to transfer the combat someplace else.
Taking to social media on Friday (February 23), Garcia wrote: “This is a MGM Vegas combat, doing every part we will to deliver this to Vegas and giving this combat what it deserves!!!
“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.”
Unlikely to achieve success in this mission, frequent sense will little doubt prevail and Garcia will come to realise that when a venue is introduced for a combat it is normally as a result of a venue has been booked and a contract has been signed. It is then extraordinarily tough for a contract to be damaged in order for one of many boxers to get precisely what they need.
We knew already in fact the combat would happen on April 20, nevertheless it wasn’t till final week that we have been advised Haney vs. Garcia would find yourself at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center as opposed to Las Vegas, the place most have a tendency to land if Middle East cash isn’t concerned. That, for some, got here as a shock, although presumably a pleasing one given the dearth of massive fights in New York of late. Indeed, with so lots of them ending up both in Las Vegas or in Saudi Arabia, the thought of a giant one touchdown in New York for a change is slightly refreshing and inspiring.
Devin Haney (Getty Images)
It’s not with out its historical past, both, the Barclays Center. It has not been round lengthy, granted, however ever since internet hosting the super-lightweight title rematch between Danny Garcia and Erik Morales in 2012 the venue has staged quite a few big-name fights and significant fights over time.
It has, for instance, given us 4 of Deontay Wilder’s greatest and scariest knockouts: the primary in opposition to Artur Szpilka in 2016, the second in opposition to Luis Ortiz in 2018, the third in opposition to Dominic Breazeale in 2019, and the fourth in opposition to Robert Helenius in 2022. Interestingly, too, the Szpilka combat, paired with a bout between Charles Martin and Vyacheslav Glazkov on the identical invoice that night time, represented the primary heavyweight title fights in Brooklyn since James Jeffries knocked out James Corbett in the twenty third spherical on May 11, 1900, on Coney Island.
Wilder stops Breazeale in a spherical
Since then there have been others in fact. We have additionally seen sure boxers make the Barclays Center their second house, together with Danny Jacobs, who boxed there a number of instances between 2013 and 2018, beating the likes of Jarrod Fletcher, Sergio Mora, Peter Quillin and Maciej Sulecki alongside the way in which. Then there are the Charlo twins, Jermall and Jermell, who’ve typically appeared in fights in Brooklyn, and Gervonta Davis, who gained his first world title in Brooklyn in 2017 – stopping Jose Pedraza inside seven rounds to declare an IBF super-featherweight belt – and extra lately minimize Rolando Romero down to measurement on the Barclays Center in defence of his WBA light-weight belt.
All issues thought of, then, Brooklyn isn’t the worst place in the world for a combat like Haney vs. Garcia to find yourself, no matter what Ryan Garcia could ideally need or certainly need you to consider. In reality, for a sport that has grow to be somewhat stale and predictable in latest instances, significantly the place the putting of massive fights is involved, an evening in Brooklyn may very well be the palate cleanser it wants. If nothing else, the selection of location delivers a giant combat to a metropolis determined to see one stay and it additionally retains Haney and Garcia nicely away from Las Vegas at a time when Canelo Alvarez, the darling of Sin City, can be gearing up for his annual look on Cinco de Mayo weekend. In different phrases, if, as implied, Garcia is apprehensive about “business” and making the “best move” for his younger profession, it could serve him nicely to know – and settle for – his present place in the pecking order.
Source link
