NEW YORK — With major fights heading towards Las Vegas, and, increasingly, Saudi Arabia, New York City has looked to the Devin Haney vs. Ryan Garcia fight as its return to being the center of the boxing universe, at least for one night.

The announcement of Brooklyn’s Barclays Center as the location for this WBC junior welterweight title fight was a surprise to many, as both fighters are from the west coast and have only fought in New York City once in their pro careers. Ryan Garcia, the mercurial contender and social media star, thought so as well, taking to the app formerly known as Twitter to call for the fight to be relocated to Las Vegas. East Coasters had more reason for consternation after mentions of Barclays Center were removed from subsequent press statements.

Those concerns had been quieted by the time the two fighters and their respective camps made it to Times Square on Tuesday, Feb. 27 for the first of two press conferences to build anticipation for the fight, which takes place on April 20 and will be streamed live on DAZN pay-per-view.

Garcia (24-1, 20 knockouts), replete with a throne and women dropping flower petals before his feet, was quick to let New York know it wasn’t anything personal.

“I want to explain this I love NYC, everybody thinks I’m hating on fighting in NYC, I love NYC personally. My whole thing is this, if we can do May 4 in Vegas, why wouldn’t we? If it’s NYC, it’s NYC, I’m gonna get to him at the Barclays at April 20,” said Garcia.

“I’m gonna destroy you anyways.”

That #HaneyGarcia stare down was HEATED!!! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/wy0f8uGUE5

— Ryan Songalia (@ryansongalia) February 27, 2024

WBC junior welterweight titleholder Haney (31-0, 15 KOs), whose own entrance was far less regal, says he was confounded by Garcia’s insistence on moving the fight and date, as it’s widely understood that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, the sport’s preeminent Mexican star, will headline a card on Cinco de Mayo weekend in Las Vegas. He says the matchup is so appealing that it transcends geographic and demographic constraints.

“It’s that big and it’s the media capital of the world. Look at how many people are here right now to capture this. This is how we get the eyeballs that we need. The fight would do good anywhere but there’s no better place than New York right now,” said San Francisco native Haney, a former undisputed lightweight champion who is making the first defense of the belt he won last December with a one-sided shutout of Regis Prograis.

Garcia’s promoters Oscar de la Hoya and Bernard Hopkins of Golden Boy Promotions both reflected fondly on how New York City played a major role in their rise to Hall of Famers and boxing legends. De La Hoya, who like Garcia is a Mexican-American from the Los Angeles area, scored knockouts of Jesse James Leija and Derrell Coley in his two fights at Madison Square Garden, while Hopkins’ road to becoming undisputed middleweight champion included big wins over Keith Holmes and Felix Trinidad in unification bouts at MSG.

“When you build a star, you have to fight in New York, you have to fight here to be the best,” said De La Hoya, whose company will be the lead promoter for the event, in association with Haney Promotions, KingRy Promotions and Matchroom Boxing.

“This is the Mecca city to fight. This is the place you must come through to get your stamp or approval of greatness. When you come through New York City, whether it’s Madison Square Garden or the Barclays Center, you must show and prove,” said Hopkins.

A date for tickets to go on sale was not announced, though press conference host Chris Mannix announced that a date would be made public soon.

The fight’s broad reaching appeal was evident at the press conference, which was opened to the public for 200 fans, though many more were lined up outside Times Square Palladium for several hours before. The fans tended to skew younger than boxing’s traditionally older demographic.

The fight will be the biggest in New York City since May of 2022, when Gervonta Davis and Rolly Romero set the attendance record for boxing events at Barclays Center with a reported crowd of 18,970. Like that fight, neither headliner was from New York City, but both knew how to get the fans invested in seeing what would transpire, however predictable that outcome was.

Haney and Garcia, both 25, have mastered the art of retaining the public’s attention, utilizing social media to provide a more immersive fan experience than generations prior were able to offer.

Garcia is fighting for the second time since his lone defeat, a seventh round knockout to Gervonta Davis last April. In his last fight in December, he scored an eighth round knockout of Oscar Duarte in Houston, providing the type of explosive finish that put him right back in the hunt for a major title fight.

The fighters knew what the assignment was as they brought their personal squabble to the world stage, relitigating their six amateur fights as children, which they split three wins a piece, and made a bet in which Garcia promised to retire if Haney was able to score a first round knockout.

Their remarks had little to do with boxing but everything to do with selling a major fight. 

“Have I ever quit like you did?,” said Haney, drawing a reaction from the fans in attendance.

“I’m not even gonna make him quit, I’m just gonna knock him the fuck out,” retorted Garcia.

Ryan Songalia has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler and The Guardian, and is part of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism Class of 2020. He can be reached at [email protected].