Devin Haney reportedly has agreed to his biggest fight yet.
The unbeaten 140-pound titleholder will face Ryan Garcia in a pay-per-view battle of 25-year-old stars on April 20 from Las Vegas, according to multiple reports.
Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) is still rebuilding after a knockout loss to Gervonta Davis last year but he and Davis have the biggest social media followings in the sport, which makes Haney’s first defense a major event.
Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) and Garcia reportedly split six fights as amateurs but the champion has had more success as a professional.
He’s one of the hottest fighters in the world, with consecutive victories over George Kambosos Jr. (twice), Vasiliy Lomachenko and Regis Prograis over the past year and a half.
Haney won and successfully defended the undisputed 135-pound championship against Kambosos, narrowly outpointed Lomachenko at 135 and then took Prograis’ title by a shutout decision in his debut as a full-fledged junior welterweight.
He climbed to No. 10 on Boxing Junkie’s pound-for-pound after the Prograis victory.
Davis put a stop to Garcia’s momentum last April, stopping the Los Angeles-area fighter with a body punch in the seventh round. The loser had moved down from 140 for the big-money opportunity.
Garcia rebounded with an eighth-round stoppage over Oscar Duarte in December, which set up the matchup with Haney.
Garcia had been in talks to face beltholder Rolando Romero but those negotiations broke down and Romero opted to defend against Isaac Cruz, which opened the door to the Haney-Garcia fight.
This story initially appeared on Boxing Junkie, an online property of the USA Today Sports network.
