Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney and Teofimo Lopez kick-off a two-city Press Tour this Tuesday, March 4, in New York, ahead of a spectacular three-fight card in Times Square, New York on Friday May 2, as Ring Magazine presents its first-ever event in the United States titled “FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves”, brought to you by SNK Corporation in association with Oscar De La Hoya for Golden Boy Promotions and Eddie Hearn for Matchroom Boxing.
Garcia will clash with Rolly Romero, Haney battles Jose Ramirez and Lopez meets Arnold Barboza on the night, and all fighters will be present at the launch press conference at the Palladium Times Square on Tuesday. Media entry will be from 2pm with the press conference commencing live at 3pm ET.
A second press conference is set to take place in Los Angeles on Monday March 10, and details of this event will be released to the media soon.
New York’s iconic Times Square will be turned into a world-class boxing venue for one night only to provide the backdrop for Ring Magazine’s first American event, playing host to some of the biggest stars of the game, as Garcia returns to action on May 2 against the larger-than-life former World title challenger Romero. Former world ruler Haney will be looking to oust the former unified 140-pound king Ramirez, while Brooklyn’s Lopez always guarantees fireworks in the ring and his next assignment is a tough one in the shape of the unbeaten Barboza.
Times Square will stage a boxing tripleheader featuring the returns of Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney, along with a title defense for Teofimo Lopez, on May 2.
The card announced Friday by Turki Alalshikh, the head of Riyadh Season and the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia, brings Garcia and Haney back to New York for their first bouts since Garcia’s victory in their 2024 title bout at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. That was later changed to a no-contest after he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and was subsequently suspended for a year by the New York State Athletic Commission. Victories for both could set the stage for a rematch between the two.
Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) will headline the Ring Magazine “Fatal Fury: City of The Wolves” card against Rolando “Rolly” Romero (16-2, 13 KOs), who was stopped by lightweight champion Gervonta Davis in 2022 in his last fight in New York.
Garcia said at the presser today in NYC: “[Me and Rolly] sparred about eight years ago, it was rough sparring, he continued to use that to boost his career, but I don’t have no bad blood with him. I’m here to do my job and set up the rematch [with Devin], I’ve got to be sharp because he’s going to bring it.
“I want to be great, I have also wanted to fight the best fighters, as far as my problems outside the ring, I’ve always had those struggles, I want to show everybody that you can come back from anything.
“I admit my wrongs, I want to show I’m a true professional, I don’t want anyone to take my actions of drinking and smoking before a fight and thinking that’s the professional thing to do.” Romero rebuffed Garcia’s suggestion that those sparring stories were used to ‘chase clout’.
He added: “I mean, if I was clout chasing, he’d have had clout, but he didn’t have any. It’s just sparring, we’re gonna see the real fight in the ring, it’ll be one of the biggest fights in US history that’s for sure.
“I said years ago me and him were going to fight at welterweight, I outgrew 140 and 135 long, long ago. I’m all muscle right now.”
Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) will move up to welterweight to take on Jose Ramirez (29-2, 18 KOs) in a matchup of former 140-pound champions.
Arnold Barboza Jr believes that, once again, he can walk into his opponent’s backyard and shock the world when he faces Teofimo Lopez in New York City this spring.
Barboza (32-0, 11 KOs) beat Jack Catterall by split decision to claim the WBO ‘Interim’ 140-pound championship in Manchester last month, and he’s going straight back into camp for another huge clash in a few weeks.
The Mexican-American will aim to take the WBO and Ring junior-welterweight titles from Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs), who is one of the standout stars in the sport and holds huge wins over Vasiliy Lomachenko and Josh Taylor.
Lopez hasn’t fought since a unanimous decision victory over Steve Claggett last summer, and it’ll be 11 months out of the ring by the time he steps between the ropes to fight Barboza.
Barboza, fresh off his victory over Catterall, is on a roll right now, having also beaten Jose Ramirez on a Riyadh Season card back in November.
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