Gary Russell Jr. says it’s a sign of weakness for Devin Haney to use Jose Ramirez as his comeback opponent in May in his first fight since his loss to Ryan Garcia.
The former WBC and WBO light welterweight champion Ramirez is the warmup fight to get Haney ready for his rematch with Ryan in October. The former two-division world champion Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) will make a lot of money in his rematch with Kingry and a fight in February 2026 against potentially Teofimo Lopez.
Stepping Stone
It’s still a risky fight for Devin because Ramirez is better than anyone he’s beaten except Vasily Lomachenko. Russell Jr. thinks the choice of Ramirez (29-2, 18 KOs) as Haney’s tune-up opponent signals that his management is trying to “preserve” his career.
It’s a smart move by Team Haney because he took a lot of punishment in his 12-round majority decision loss to Garcia on April 20th last year at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Devin was dropped three times and suffered a jaw injury.
It would be foolhardy for Haney to jump right in with the sharks immediately at 147 after 13 months out of the ring coming off. The fight against Ramirez will be at welterweight and Devin’s debut in this weight class, even though he rehydrates in the 160s.
The 2012 U.S. Olympian Ramirez was a pretty good puncher at 140, and he may be even more powerful at 147. Russell focuses on Ramirez’s recent close 10-round unanimous decision loss to Arnold Barboza Jr. on November 16th.
Barboza Jr outboxed Ramirez, but he did a good job of making it close in the end with his relentless pressure. The scores were 97-93, 96-94 and 96-94.
“With what happened with Ryan, this isn’t the guy to come back and fight,” said Gary Russell Jr. to MillCity Boxing about Devin Haney coming back against former WBC and WBO light welterweight champion Jose Ramirez in May. “Now, you’re supposed, ‘I’ll fight whoever now. Anybody can get it.’
“Now it looks like, ‘I lost. All right, I’m going to try and fight that one over there.’ They’re trying to preserve his career. That’s what people do. I understand it. I understand you trying to preserve your career, but from the inside looking out, Devin Haney and them, you’re supposed to do what’s best for you.”
Russell Jr. doesn’t give any examples of who he feels Haney should fight at 147 for his comeback. There are not a lot of options for available contenders in the division. Jose Ramirez would beat most of the contenders in the 147-lb division.
The only decent fighters in the division are Eimantas Stanionis, Jaron Ennis, Brian Norman Jr., and Mario Barrios. Ramirez would give all of them problems. Ennis would probably be too much for him, but he’d have an excellent shot at beating the other three champions.
“If that’s the route that y’all feel that y’all need to take, then do that. There is a flipside of that. People are like, ‘Damn, he just lost. He lost, and he ran.’ I want him to come back, but he got to come back hard now. Now you come back with that [Jose Ramirez]. That’s not coming back hard. You got to pick your poison and do what’s best for you,” said Russell Jr. about Haney.
“Sometimes, ‘f*** what these people think. It depends on what you’re looking at. If you plan on being the big dog, then nah,” said Russell Jr. when asked if he was in favor of Haney fighting Ramirez. “But if you’re planning on keeping your head load. ‘I’m going to go ahead and get what I can get.”
Haney is basically ignoring what people think of him because if he was focused on them, he’d face someone really dangerous and likely lose.
Last Updated on 02/13/2025