Devin Haney posted on social media telling his followers he was locked up. “Tunnel vision” Twelve days later, on April 20th, he will defend his title against Ryan Garcia at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Fans are blaming WBC light welterweight champion Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) for not selling tickets, and the situation looks dire with empty seats at Barclays Center for the DAZN PPV headliner.
The success of this promotion depends entirely on Ryan's massive 11 million followers on Instagram. Ryan is popular, but he can't do it himself. He needs an opponent that fans want to see, and Haney isn't that.
Haney: Ticket Sales Kryptonite
If the situation does not improve, event organizers may have to fire-sell ticket prices and start handing out free tickets to fans in order to fill stadiums. Haney is just a drag on his promotion.
The real reason behind the flop
- Haney's unpopularity: Devin's boring fighting style doesn't encourage fans to rush out and buy tickets or order a match on PPV, no matter who he's fighting.
- Sky High ticket price
- Geographic Failure: Holding Haney vs. Garcia in New York was a stupid idea, and the organizers failed to understand where the fan bases for these two fighters were.
Fans blame high ticket prices for the problem, but it may have more to do with Haney not being a popular fighter. Being a world champion doesn't make you popular, that's the whole problem.
Haney, like many world champions in the sport, doesn't have many fans due to his boring style, lacks the charisma to sell a fight, and may never become a popular fighter.
Haney's inspirational quote ends in failure.
“12 days…tunnel vision,” HIaney said. X.
“This is just the beginning. It takes me years to conquer this sport. They keep lining them up and I keep beating them,” Devin Haney told DAZN Boxing.
“It's for me to show him, 'You're not on my level.' You're not Devin Haney. It's up to me to prove that, and I'm going to continue to do that.”
