Haney Eyes Garcia-Barrios As Rematch Stakes Rise

Devin Haney will be watching closely when Ryan Garcia faces WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios for his belt on February 21, 2026. It’s a final step for the Garcia-Haney rematch to happen.

Garcia still has the left hook that should be enough for him to defeat Barrios. However, this is not a gimme for Ryan, especially with how he looked last May. If he doesn’t land his left hook smash, ‘El Azteca’ Barrios has the toughness to outwork him the way he did in his win over Yordenis Ugas in 2023.

Barrios has the opportunity to spoil the lucrative rematch by defeating Ryan and putting himself in position to face Haney in a unification. As bad as Mario looked in his 12-round draw against 46-year-old Manny Pacquiao on July 19th, he’s got a chance of sending Garcia down to his second straight defeat.

Garcia (24-2, 20 KOs) needs a win over Barrios (29-2-2, 18 KOs) to take the rematch with Haney. Kingry already failed earlier this year, losing to Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero in what was supposed to be a showcase fight for him on May 2.

Ryan did not look good in that fight, appearing indecisive and lacking the confidence that he’d shown in his victory over Haney in 2024.

Bill Haney talked this week about wanting WBO welterweight champion Devin to face WBA champion Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero on the Ryan vs. Barrios card on February 21st.

That doesn’t look possible with the news of Rolly defending against Manny Pacquiao or his WBA-ordered fight against mandatory Shakhram Giyasov. It’s a nice pipe dream that Bill Haney cooked up, but it doesn’t seem realistic.

Ryan sounded out of breath during a mitt workout this week outside his mansion in Southern California. He was breathing really hard immediately at the start of his mitt workout, and looked exhausted.

It’s not a good sign for him because he gassed out in his loss to Rolly and his fight against Haney. It’s unclear if he’s been ignoring his cardio, but he can’t afford to tire out against Barrios.