Ryan Garcia fights Devin Haney for the junior Welterweight Title Fight in April

Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney have agreed to square off for the junior welterweight championship in April 2024.

This will mark the first defense of the 140-pound title for Haney (31-0) after he won it from Regis Prograis by unanimous decision on December 9.

The bout with Prograis was Haney’s first as a junior welterweight. He competed in the lightweight division for the first eight years of his professional career.

Haney became the first undisputed lightweight champion in the four-belt era when he defeated George Kambosos Jr. in October 2022. He vacated the undisputed title in November 2023 when he moved up in weight.

The development concludes a matchup more than three years in the making, when Garcia (24-1, 20KOs) held an interim version of the WBC lightweight title owned at the time by Haney (31-0, 15KOs).

Garcia scored an eighth-round knockout of Mexico’s Oscar Duarte last December 2 in Houston, Texas. The feat put him back in the win column after a seventh-round knockout defeat to Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis (29-0, 27KOs) in their non-title fight last April 22 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Davis-Garcia became the highest-grossing boxing event of 2023, though Garcia has used that opportunity to reshape his own career and become a star on his own merit.

It marked the official end to Haney’s undisputed lightweight championship, as he vacated all the belts prior to the bout. Haney held the WBC lightweight title since October 2019 and made seven successful defenses.

Three came in undisputed championship meetings. Haney claimed back-to-back wins over George Kambosos (21-2. 10KOs) to fully unify and subsequently defend in their pair of 2022 bouts in Melbourne, Australia. He then followed with a 12-round decision over former three-division titlist Vasiliy Lomachenko (17-3, 11KOs) last May 20 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Story by : George Opoku Boateng. gopokuboateng@gmail.com. Ahotor Fm. X-Prekese GH