Some of boxing's youngest stars like Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, Teofimo Lopez, and Gervonta Davis make their fighting home at 135 pounds. Fans want to see all of them square off against each other to determine who is the best of them all.
But that hasn't happened as Haney is taking on Jorge Linares on May 29, Lopez is facing George Kambosos Jr. on June 5, Davis is fighting Mario Barrios on June 26, and Garcia is battling Javier Fortuna on July 9.
After his win over Luke Campbell in January to capture the interim WBC title, Garcia confronted Haney, who was at the fight and the WBC titleholder. Due to Garcia beating Campbell, he became the mandatory challenger for Haney. Instead, Garcia went the route of calling out Davis and former eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao. When those failed to come to fruition, the Fortuna bout was made.
In the debut episode of The DAZN Boxing Show, Haney explained why Garcia didn't take on any of the names mentioned above, and the fans view him for not taking on any of those names.
"Me and my team knew that Ryan Garcia didn't really want to fight me," Haney said. "He didn't really want to fight "Tank". He didn't really want to fight (Manny) Pacquiao. It was all for promotion.
"Only time will tell what's really going on. As everyone can see, he's ducking me. Why fight for another mandatory when you can be fighting for a world title?
In Linares, Haney faces his toughest test to date in the guy who is a three-division world champion and knocked down Vasiliy Lomachenko when they fought in May 2018, while Fortuna is a former world champion. Haney feels based on resumes, that he's taking on a more formidable challenge than his rival.
"We can go by just whose accomplished more," Haney explained. "Javier Fortuna hasn't accomplished more.
"He's (Linares) is a four (three)-time world champion, and Javier Fortuna is a one-time or whatever the case may be. Jorge Linares has been in bigger fights and won bigger fights. I think Jorge Linares is the better fighter."
Both upcoming fights, Haney vs. Linares and Garcia vs. Fortuna, will air live this summer on DAZN.