The rematch between Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney appears uncertain for now. But that hasn’t prevented the two bitter rivals from taking potshots at each other. The latest instance came when Garcia teased the three-division champion over an issue that continues to cause headaches. He got that opportunity after Haney commented on the callout from Delante ‘Tiger’ Johnson.

Fighting on the main card of the Top Rank event in Ohio, headlined by Abdullah Mason and Albert Bell, the welterweight contender called out Devin Haney after scoring a victory over Christopher Guerrero. However, there’s a problem. Haney and his father reportedly face a restraining order that Johnson filed months ago, and Haney made a point to remind Johnson about it. While that history may not matter to Ryan Garcia, he seemingly took it upon himself to remind the WBO welterweight champion about something they share—lawsuits.

“Now you know how it feels :(,” Garcia’s cryptic message read.

While it lacked specific details, it’s not difficult to understand its context. To set the record straight, there’s no case involving a restraining order between Garcia and Haney. It likely stems from the infamous lawsuit Haney filed after their hugely controversial bout on April 20, 2024, and the events that subsequently followed.

While Garcia won the fight that day, everything changed after reports about his use of performance-enhancing dr-gs (PEDs) emerged. Following its investigation, the New York State Athletic Commission overturned the fight result, suspended Garcia for a year, and fined him a huge amount.

But Team Haney wasn’t done with Garcia. Taking a step that divided the entire boxing world, Haney filed a lawsuit against Garcia in a New York court, alleging battery, fraud, and breach of contract.

While the WBO champion revealed last year that he had dropped the lawsuit against Ryan Garcia, the issue surrounding PED testing continues to be a point of contention between the two sides, further complicating the possibility of their much-anticipated rematch.

Now Haney finds himself at the center of a legal challenge where, instead of being the plaintiff, he’s the defendant.

The charges stem from a brawl that erupted in Madison Square Garden on January 30 this year. As the card, headlined by Shakur Stevenson and Teofimo Lopez, progressed at MSG, reports emerged of an altercation taking place between the Haneys and Delante Johnson on the sidelines.

The footage of the incident gained considerable traction. One clip even appeared to show Devin Haney, who made an appearance as an analyst for the show, heading back towards the altercation. For their alleged role in misdemeanor assault, Devin and his father, Bill, were reportedly arrested on February 1.

While the three division champ made light of the situation, saying, “NY is cold … I gotta go turn myself into jail in a few hours #Freemeeee,” Johnson, meanwhile, secured a domestic violence/protection restraining order against the father-son duo. Given the case is ongoing, Devin Haney later revealed that he is legally gagged and cannot speak about Johnson.

The obstacles keep mounting for Devin Haney

Still, with the legal situation unresolved, one is forced to think whether, in the absence of the restraining order, Devin Haney would have responded to Tiger Johnson’s callout.

Johnson currently holds tenth and fourteenth positions in the WBO and the IBF welterweight rankings. With today’s win, that standing is bound to improve. Yet, will that be sufficient to secure a matchup against someone with Devin Haney?

The champion is already struggling to secure fights against several big names. While the WBO has ordered the 27-year-old to defend his title from number one-ranked contender Keyshawn Davis, he seems to have set his sights on stars Shakur Stevenson and Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.

But complications continue to surround the former undisputed champion. A few days ago, the WBO gave him and Keyshawn Davis 20 days to finalize a deal before ordering a purse bid. Failing to do so could possibly result in Haney being stripped of his title. Meanwhile, weight-related issues complicate the matchups against Stevenson and Davis, as Bill Haney, during a recent interview with the Ring Magazine, said, “…it won’t be anything under 144 lbs for nobody in the world.”

Against that backdrop, Team Haney hasn’t ruled out a matchup against Ryan Garcia entirely. “Ryan is, respectfully, on the list. He’s at #10 because there are some things we would like him to do in terms of maturity or being pushed by his team…. What I want to see is him go to the drug VADA program and give us a significant amount of time [to test] for us to have faith that he’s clean.”

However, with the WBC champion currently focused on a title defense against Conor Benn, the unification bout with Haney may take some time.

The coming weeks should hopefully reveal the name of the opponent Team Haney is zeroing in on. The pressure is on them, as it’s been over seven months since the welterweight champion has been inside the ring. Any further delay would only hurt his prospects, which include losing his hard-earned title.