Undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney has explained why he’s not pushing for a fight against Ryan Garcia.

At this moment in time, there are very few divisions across both major combat sports that are as exciting as lightweight in professional boxing. There are so many elite level fighters just waiting for the chance to prove themselves to the watching world, and right now, Devin Haney sits at the top of the mountain as the undisputed king.

He holds The Ring, WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and WBC titles following his one-sided triumph over George Kambosos Jr in Australia last weekend. Now, as is the nature of the game, the focus has swiftly turned toward what’s going to be next for the 23-year-old.

Big match-ups against Vasiliy Lomachenko and Gervonta Davis have been suggested but during a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, Haney was questioned about the possibility of a meeting with Ryan Garcia.

The two men have fought multiple times on the amateur scene with both picking up a few wins. In the present day, though, it isn’t a particularly appealing idea for Haney.

“He’s popular but at the end of the day, I’m chasing legacy. I don’t care about Instagram followers or anything like that. I want to make the biggest fights happen for my legacy more than anything. Instagram followers, I mean that’s cool and all, but I’m not into fighting for followers. I’m into fighting for belts and legacies, for my name to live on

While the social media presence of Ryan Garcia is certainly noteworthy, the real headline should be his fantastic boxing ability.

At 22-0 he already has 18 knockouts to his name and on July 16, he’ll head back into the ring for the second time in just a matter of months to take on Javier Fortuna.

With a record of 37–3–1 (2), you could definitely argue that Fortuna isn’t enough of a step up in competition for Garcia. At the same time, there’s a good chance this is one of the final times we see the youngster prior to him fighting for a belt.

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