Devin Haney held up his end of the deal. He took down Jose Ramirez by unanimous decision in their Fatal Fury in Times Square event in New York, 3 days ago. When the final bell rang, judges’ scorecards had read 119-109, 119-109, and 118-110 in favor of Haney, who maintained his undefeated record at 32-0, returning to the ring after a year of hiatus and the Ryan Garcia no contest.

The entire showdown, with Ryan Garcia fighting Rolando Rolly Romero, headlining the same card, could have been the roadmap for a rematch between The Dream and King Ry, only if the latter hadn’t taken on a major upset loss, losing to Romero by unanimous decision in the 12-round bout for the WBA welterweight title. Romero had set the tone of the match early on, knocking down Garcia to the canvas, landing a pair of left hooks in the second round itself. But was he the only one who failed? Even though Haney managed to win his bout, the fight lacked any action whatsoever, according to fans and boxing insiders alike.

Two days after the fight, when a reporter from Fight Hub TV got the chance to ask ESPN boxing analyst, Timothy Bradley Jr., how it was watching the Garcia-Haney event the day before. The boxing community’s frustration with the fighters’ lackluster performances was evident in his tone. The Hall of Famer plainly came to the point, not holding it back at all.“Underwhelmed, man. I was pissed off after watching that. I felt like I was insulted last night after watching that,” said the former boxer who is well known for his trilogy fight against fellow Hall of Famer Manny Pacquiao.

The 26-year-old and the 29-3 light welterweight boxer had landed only 110 punches combined, with Haney 70 and Ramirez 40. So Bradley had a point, plus it wasn’t just about the Haney fight for him. “I was so disappointed. I thought all of them [on the card] was whack. All of them. Every last one of them,” Desert Storm continued, annoyed. After over two and a half minutes of talking about how today’s boxers are in the fights just for the money, and not for passion or legacy, Bradley started bashing at both Ryan and Haney for not being true fighters. “It’s so ironic, right? You had one [Ryan Garcia] that was rehabbing, the other one [Devin Haney] that didn’t rehab, he put on a sh**show too…Haney was supposed to be going back to the drawing board, getting better. Did you think he got better? Absolutely not,” Bradley told the reporter.

All that came from the third-best active boxer, who had himself been a part of the sport. No doubt why he would be so angry. Conveying the sentiment, Bradley called out Haney about his trainer switch a month before the fight, “Just ’cause you add a Hall of Famer [Shane Mosley] to your team don’t mean it’s going to make you better. Sometimes coaches—you don’t have to be a Hall of Famer to be a good coach, man.” From his perspective, neither Garcia nor Haney wanted to have a rematch. “Devin yesterday—almost I felt like he didn’t want the fight either with Ryan Garcia,” he pressed.

“The way he was fighting, how scared he was. PTSD is a real thing in fighting, in boxing. It’s a real thing. And I felt—I felt that’s what I saw with Devin, watching him run around the ring, man,” Bradly said, really digging into the fight. Mocking Haney’s continuous movement around the square, Bradley told the reporter what he thought while watching the Haney-Ramirez match, “Did he train with Usain Bolt? Who the hell he train with? He running around this ring like he crazy. I’m like, yo, settle your feet down, bro, and grow some ba**s, man. Stand there and jab—and—and make sure, back this guy up off of you. But no, man. Like, look—look, I take so much, bro. I was so angry after watching that, bro. I waste my time watching that last night.“

And, it’s true. Bradley isn’t alone in thinking that Haney failed to deliver a promising fight. In that case, can the Ryan Garcia-Devin Haney rematch still happen? Well, Jose Ramirez’s trainer, Robert Garcia, thinks—yes.

Robert Garcia advocates for Ryan Garcia-Devin Haney 2 despite cold performances

In a separate interview with Fight Hub TV, Robert Garcia says that King Ry and Haney would still be a “big fight.” Even if Ryan Garcia lost, that’s not the real trouble—Haney winning against Ramirez after an irritably boring performance is. The 32-year-old’s trainer knows that Haney is usually non-engaging, and that is his style. But the loss to Garcia has left him in fear of getting hit. And that’s exactly what Bradley told, pointing out that maybe Haney is traumatised from the beating he took a year ago.

“I don’t say he was boxing, because in most rounds, I call it running. But that was his plan, he got the decision, and what can we say?” said Robert Garcia. Still, the fight may happen, as he explained using an example: Both Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury lost their last fights, yet if they were to fight each other, it would still be huge. Saying that, he said, “Haney vs. Garcia is still going to be a big fight. I think they should still do it. Too big.”

One thing is clear, though. After Garcia and Haney’s performances, fans would likely not consider them top contenders in the welterweight division anymore. So, ultimately, it’s up to His Excellency, Turki Alalshikh, to decide if the fight will happen. What do you think?