“The only thing shot is Oscar De La Hoya’s face full of Botox and fillers. Not a wrinkle on the Golden Girl,” quipped Bill Haney in an X post last month. And, even outside of boxing, a comment of that sort would’ve generated tensions. Which is exactly what has been going on between Devin Haney‘s father and Oscar De La Hoya for well over a year now. Since Ryan Garcia and The Dream’s no-contest bout in April last year, the two a consistently traded barbs online. It reached such a level that during the press conference for the May 2nd Times Square event, the two almost got into a brawl on the stage.
So with such a history, it’s just hard to agree on something, isn’t it? Just a few days ago, Bill Haney even shared how the former six-division champion had blocked him on social media. Yet, De La Hoya doesn’t seem to have his feed cleansed of Bill posts, does he? The San Francisco native’s father shared a hitlist for his son on his X handle yesterday, which Devin Haney reposted as well that included names like Teofimo Lopez, Shakur Stevenson, Gervonta Davis, Jaron “Boots” Ennis, Brian Norman Jr., Mario Barrios, Keyshawn Davis, Rolando Romero, Conor Benn, and Ryan Garcia.
This list of 10 fighters that the 26-year-old would be ready to fight next circulated online so much that it popped up in De La Hoya’s Instagram feed. Yesterday, World Star Sport shared a screenshot of the list, featuring top fighters from lightweight, light welterweight, and welterweight as possible future targets for the former undisputed lightweight champion. “#DevinHaney hitlist revealed. Thoughts? ,” the caption read. And, jumping on the post, De La Hoya hit out a sharp jab at the father-son duo with his comment: “Run forest run .”
To him, it was just big mouthing amid the recent slow performances from Devin Haney. You see, the promoter hilariously referenced Haney’s last bout against Jose Ramirez on the Fatal Fury in Times Square undercard on the 2nd of this month. In case you missed what happened, Ryan Garcia was in the main event, fighting in his bout against Rolando Romero. While he couldn’t make it through, Haney secured a unanimous decision victory. Albeit, it wasn’t the best fight for fans to watch. Most would say that Haney was trying to “run” throughout the bout, leaning more towards an extremely defensive style of fighting.
Boxing insiders like Jim Lampley and ESPN analyst Timothy Bradly were very critical about Haney’s lackluster performance themselves. The latter thought that Haney might be suffering from PTSD from the Garcia match last year. So, for now, Bill Haney’s claims that his son can fight title holders from other divisions, let alone in his own, seem to be a little exaggerated, according to Oscar De La Hoya. Not to mention that there would be no Ryan Garcia (who was on the hitlist too) and Haney rematch anytime soon either.
Oscar De La Hoya makes it clear they have “Zero” interest in a Haney rematch
Sure, some thought that even after a whole event being set up for the Haney-Garcia rematch, and the latter losing, a second fight was still a lucrative path to go. And, when Bill Haney broke the silence, talking to Ariel Helwani about a week ago, it felt like a rematch may actually happen. He has asserted that HE Turki Alalshikh’s previous deal of a rematch in October in the Riyadh Season could still be on. But who knew that one of the fighters’ teams themselves would back off before any higher authority did?
Just yesterday, some reporters from Fight Hype got the chance to ask Oscar De La Hoya about this matter. Plainly and bluntly, De La Hoya revealed the next steps he’s looking forward to for Garcia. “No, that’s not the direction we want to go. Um, zero [interest] whatsoever…We’re actually looking forward to the future,” the promoter said. And, when the reporter asked him if it could be a rematch with Rolly Romero instead, De La Hoya answered affirmatively—“Well, as a fighter—speaking to you as a fighter, not a promoter—that’s exactly what I would do, right? So that would be the right move for him, I think. You know, go get revenge.“
For now, it seems pretty clear that Ryan Garcia’s corner would rather have a rematch with Romero instead of trying to prove himself again in front of Devin Haney. But then again, to some, it would sound only fair that Haney gets the rematch, because it was technically a no-contest due to Garcia’s positive PED test. Anyhow, both Haney and Garcia would need to part ways until next time.
What do you think about Bill Haney’s list? Should he pick someone from that instead of going after Garcia now? Or should he keep up with the callouts and get a shot at proving who is the superior fighter?
The post Oscar De La Hoya Drops 3 Word Response to Devin Haney Hitlist After Ending Ryan Garcia’s Rematch Talks appeared first on EssentiallySports.