Sources – Devin Haney to defend title vs. Ryan Garcia on April 20\u060c<\/p>\n
Mike Coppinger, ESPNFebruary 9, 2024, 11:08 a.m.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia have reached an agreement to fight April 20 in Las Vegas for Haney's junior welterweight championship, sources tell ESPN.<\/p>\n Haney, ESPN's No. 6 pound-for-pound boxer, will step into the ring for his third consecutive pay-per-view fight \u2013 his highest profile to date \u2013 as he continues his rise to the stars.<\/p>\n Haney, 25, who fights in Las Vegas, is ESPN's reigning finalist for fighter of the year.<\/p>\n His 2023 campaign included a thrilling decision victory over future Hall of Famer Vasiliy Lomachenko to retain his undisputed lightweight championship; and a shutout victory over R\u00e9gis Prograis to become a two-division champion in his junior welterweight debut.<\/p>\n Now, Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) will make the first defense of his 140-pound title against Garcia, one of boxing's biggest stars.<\/p>\n Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) arguably has the fastest hands in boxing. In April, he faced Gervonta Davis in a true superfight, an event that generated over a million PPV buys and over $22 million at the gate.<\/p>\n Garcia was not at his best in the match, which he lost via seventh-round TKO following a body shot. After all, the 25-year-old Southern Californian agreed to a weight of 136 pounds when he couldn't get past 146 pounds the morning of the fight.<\/p>\n Garcia's previous two fights took place at 140 pounds, as did his most recent performance, an eighth-round knockout of Oscar Duarte in December. And that's the weight of the Haney fight, Garcia's first chance at a world title.<\/p>\n Haney is ESPN's No. 1 boxer at 140 pounds while Garcia is No. 8. Both boxers have a significant number of followers on social media: Haney has 2.6 million followers on Instagram; Garcia has 10.3 million.<\/p>\n