By: Sean Crose
Devin Haney had something to prove. Although he was a 31-0 former champion of the world, Haney had been thoroughly thrashed a year earlier by Ryan Garcia. Even though that fight had been declared null and void after Garcia repeatedly tested positive for having a banned substance in his system, it was hard not to remember the beating Haney took at Garcia’s fists the previous spring. With that being said, Haney’s opponent in his ring return Friday evening in New York’s Time Square was the 29-2 contender Jose Ramirez. The bout was scheduled for a championship twelve. Haney took to moving about the ring in the inactive first round.
Haney remained rather inactive in the second. Ramirez pushed the action again in the third. Although he certainly didn’t look out of the fight, it appeared that Haney was somewhat gun shy. Things had fallen into a pattern in the fourth – Ramirez stalked and Haney moved about. Things remained relatively uneventful in the fifth…and the sixth, Haney may not have been impressive, but Ramirez was even less impressive in his inability to catch Haney.
While dominating the seventh, Haney managed to throw and land some shots while Ramirez essentially refused to change strategy. Yet by the end of eighth it looked like Haney might be getting more active. And indeed, Haney was marginally more aggressive in the ninth. Yet the fight remained largely uneventful in the tenth. And the same could be said for the eleventh, as well as for the twelfth. Haney ended up getting the unanimous decision win – but he didn’t look particularly sharp. Still, Haney was coming back from a terrible night a year earlier. He may have simply needed to shake the figurative cobwebs out.
Here’s hoping.
