For Devin Haney and his trainer/father Bill Haney, the humiliating loss to Ryan Garcia is a. wound that never healed completely. The pair had always been rivals. Having competed in the amateur circuit in their youth, they collided in April 2024 for a professional boxing match. What followed was disastrous—for both sides.  

Despite being pegged as an underdog, the Victorville native steamrolled through Haney, dropping him thrice en route to a majority decision win. However, in the aftermath, ‘King Ry’ tested positive for Ostarine, and the result was overturned, and Garcia was suspended for a year. It’s been quite a while since then, but Bill Haney continues to feel the sting.

Ryan Garcia branded ‘the shame of Victorville’

“The shame of Victorville, Ryan Garcia still trying to convince people he didn’t plead guilty to using performance-enhancement drugs is beyond nasty work,” Bill Haney wrote on X. Notably, Garcia had reached a settlement with the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC), resolving the issue without a full hearing or trial.

Despite the settlement, Ryan Garcia has consistently maintained that he never knowingly or intentionally took Ostarine, instead attributing the positive test to contaminated supplements. In response to those results, Devin Haney even filed a lawsuit against Garcia, a move that had compelled Garcia into a rematch after a comeback fight in April last year.

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Both fighters appeared on the same New York card in May 2025, but the night derailed any immediate plans for a sequel. Garcia suffered a shocking loss to Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero, while Haney scraped past Jose Ramirez in a largely uninspiring performance. The results effectively killed momentum for a rematch, prompting Haney to eventually drop the lawsuit.

Since then, Haney has moved up to welterweight and captured the WBO title with a win over Brian Norman Jr. Garcia, meanwhile, is in talks to face Mario Barrios for the WBC belt. A victory there could reignite a long-simmering grudge match. In the meantime, Devin Haney has revealed why he decided to let go of the lawsuit against Ryan Garcia. 

Devin Haney claimed he never wanted to sue Garcia

Haney’s main intention was to settle the score inside the ring with Ryan Garcia, and he never wanted the lawsuit. “I would say that my team was [behind the lawsuit],” Haney told Ariel Helwani on the latter’s show. “That wasn’t something [I wanted]. I’m a fighter — I want to get it back in the ring.”

Haney admitted the situation left him frustrated, especially after Garcia’s failed drug test overturned the loss to a no-contest. “There was a guy that cheated, and I was getting all the flak,” Haney explained. “I missed out on a lot of money [and] a lot of opportunities.” Despite that, Haney said suing Garcia was never his preferred path.

It appears time hasn’t healed the scars Ryan Garcia gave Devin Haney and his father, Bill Haney. But if everything goes according to plan, Haney will get his opportunity to exact revenge. Is that a rematch you would want to see?