After an impressive win at the weekend, there is talk of Devin Haney facing Ryan Garcia for a second time and Tim Bradley has now offered his thoughts on their potential rematch.
Last April, Garcia battered Haney from pillar to post to hand ‘The Dream’ a defeat but his shock victory was later overturned to a no-contest after testing positive for performance-enhancing drug ostarine during the aftermath.
Haney then filed a lawsuit against Garcia, seeking damages for battery, fraud and breach of contract, but recently revealed that he has dropped those charges.
On Saturday night, Haney became a three-division world champion by outpointing Brian Norman Jr to get his hands on the WBO welterweight world title, whilst Garcia has revealed he is set to challenge Mario Barrios for the WBC welterweight throne in February.
Speaking to FightHype.com, two-division conqueror Bradley declared that he could still see the lasting impact of Haney’s showdown with Garcia in his win over Norman, and feared that ‘King Ry’ may simply have his number.
“Just as well as Devin did a great job, I still see a little residue, it’s still there. It could be a part of his strategy, defence first, I get it.
“At the back end of the fight, he was winning easily, he didn’t want to take too many chances, he didn’t want to open himself up, but I saw Norman marching forward, letting his hands go and there was less and less activity from Devin – I can’t ignore that.
“It could be by design, maybe not. I’m just saying, Garcia has his number.”
Bradley went on to say that he believes he felt the odds would be even or even slightly in Haney’s favour, but he himself can’t get past the memory of that first encounter.
A potential unification clash between Haney and Garcia would be one of the biggest fights of 2026, but both men have also been linked to a scrap with Conor Benn for next summer, which could push Haney-Garcia II back towards the end of next year’s calendar. Garcia, pending official announcement, has Barrios to contend with first.
