According to the WBC, Devin Haney (pictured) has declined to make his mandatory defense and instead requested to be placed in the status of WBC champion in recess in the junior welterweight division. The WBC Board of Governors unanimously granted Haney’s request and has declared him WBC world champion in recess. Haney recenlty tweeted he was going to: "take some time... spend some of my money... travel the world & I’ll [be] back in two years after Ryan [Garcia's] suspension & we can fight again." Concurrently, the WBC Board of Governors declared current interim champion Alberto Puello to be the new WBC junior welterweight champion. The WBC will order negotiations for Puello’s mandatory title defense against WBC #1 rated Sandor Martin. Gary Antuanne Russell has petitioned that the WBC consider granting him an immediate rematch against now Champion Puello in light of Russell’s very competitive and close split decision loss. After careful review, the WBC has granted an indirect rematch that will allow Russell to fight the winner of the bout between Puello and Martin.
PRIOR BOXINGTALK COVERAGE
JUNE 19, 2024: On Tuesday, the WBC held a purse bid for a mandatory fight in the junior welterweight division between champion Devin Haney (31-1, 15 knockouts) and mandatory challenger Sandor Martin (42-3, 15 knockouts) of Spain. Top Rank won the rights with a winning bid of $2,420,000. The WBC announced it will employ its relatively new rule for this fight, giving 10% of the bid ($242,000) to the fight's winner. Martin is a skilled boxer but a light puncher, which makes him a sensible opponent for Haney (pictured) under the circumstances that Haney lost his last fight to an apparently chemically enhanced Ryan Garcia, and took too much punishment in the process. Haney was able to retain his WBC title only because Garcia failed to make weight. ESPN broke the news that the result of Haney-Garcia was changed from a decision win for Garcia to a no contest. On Twitter, however, Haney indicated he would not take the fight and instead would go on sabbatical: "Ima take some time.. spend some of my money.. travel the world & I’ll b back in two years after Ryan [Garcia] suspension & we can fight again."
MAY 2, 2024... According to ESPN, Ryan Garcia tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance called Ostarine at the time of his upset win over Devin Haney in April. The testing for the fight was administered by VADA, the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association. Only the A-sample has been tested, so the finding is not considered final until either the B-sample has also been tested or Garcia declines to have the B-sample tested. The most disturbing aspect of the news is that Garcia dished out severe and possibly permament punishment to Haney, who was knoked down three times and absorbed many hard punches to the head over the course of twelve rounds against the apparently enhanced Garcia.
Garcia also missed weight by over three pounds for what was supposed to be a junior welterweight (140-pound) title fight. Because Garcia was overweight, Haney retained the title despite the loss.
