Cheating, bigotry, debauchery; it all appears to be rather inconsequential given the recent announcement of a rematch between Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney having been confirmed by Turki Alalshikh on his Twitter/X account. The match is set to occur in October, while both Haney and Garcia appear to be heading into “tune-up” fights in May prior to their rematch.
With this move, boxing has proven that consequences pale in comparison to name recognition, with a fight between Devin Haney (31-0, 15 KO’s) and Ryan Garcia (24-1, 20 KO’s) clearly considered more relevant than the controversies the latter had found himself in last year.
General Entertainment Authority (GEA) chairman Turki Alalshikh seems to have been the catalyst in arranging a rematch between Garcia and Haney―who signed his part of the deal around a week ago―and seems to have a vested interest in staging the rematch on a Riyadh Season card.
“The deal is done… The opponent is set…Big news coming soon,” Alalshikh declared yesterday in a post with an image depicting Ryan Garcia signing his contract. “Exclusive in the Ring Magazine…Lets get boxing great again…“
According to Turki Alalshikh’s words, Garcia’s signing was exclusively arranged within The Ring Boxing Magazine’s headquarters―purportedly the same location where Conor Benn signed on to fight Chris Eubank Jr. in April, suggesting the Saudi official is branching The Ring out from its editorial/sanctioning body duties.
The fight is further being planned for October according to The Ring, with both Haney and Garcia set to compete in on the same Riyadh Season card this May. The card is further expected to be staged in the United States.
The news further confirms Alalshikh’s successful ascent to the very top of the boxing industry, with his acquisition of The Ring appearing set to become the primary vehicle through which Riyadh Season’s cards will be fiercely promoted.
Despite Ryan Garcia having caused an upset win over Devin Haney on April 20th last year, his victory would be heavily tainted by Garcia’s performance-enhancing drug (PED) offenses, his missing weight on purpose and the bigotry he displayed. Judging by Alalshikh’s drive to put Garcia back into the ring, rather than seeing him face an extended length of punishment, anything shy of actual criminal offenses appear to be tolerable.
This will also cast a level of expectancy for future cases involving PED’s, discriminatory practices or practices where fighters come in overweight on purpose. These instances must be overlooked when they occur according to the standard set by Turki Alalshikh―who appears to now be the primary power to decide what will happen in boxing.
To further cement this level of allowance, Ryan Garcia is still serving the suspension imposed on him by the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) which is set to expire on April 20th this year―exactly one year after Garcia’s now-overturned win over Devin Haney.
