Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney could face frustrating losses on May card in New York’s Times Square. Ryan (24-1, 20 KOs) fights Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz, while Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) faces the former on Turki Sheikh’s card WBC/WBO 140-pound champion Jose Ramirez.

Impact of layoffs

Ryan and Haney chose the wrong match-up to contend with 13 months of layoffs. 2012 Olympian Jose Ramirez (29-2, 18 KOs) and former WBA light welterweight champion Pitbull Cruz are not good opponents for any fighter after a year of inactivity . These two would be a nightmare for Garcia and Devin, even if they were active.

If Kingery and Haney have good ability to withstand punches and can handle being hit in the breadbasket, then facing Ramirez and Cruz won’t be a big problem. This is not the case. They were all fragile warriors beaten down in battle.

Garcia-Cruz will fight at 143 or 144 at welterweight, which would be perfect for the powerful 5-foot-4 Cruz (26-3-1, 18 KOs). In Pitbull’s two 140 games with Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela and Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero, he hit the ball with more power.

If Leo hadn’t used new Lomachenko-esque moves to evade Cruz’s constant pressure, he likely would have been knocked out. Jin Rui does not have the same mobility, and he will be forced to fight in close quarters for three minutes per round. If Ryan failed to harm the pit bull, he would be in trouble.

50-50 battles

Turki gave the fans two exciting 50-50 games in Times Square with the doubles of Garcia Cruz and Haney Ramirez. It would be great if he could accept that Ryan and Devin might lose. Sheikh is already planning a rematch with Garcia-Hani in Riyadh in October. This battle will be overshadowed if one or both sides lose their tune in May.

It’s a better deal for fans at the PPV than feeding these two canned tomatoes, as wealthy, well-known fighters do when they’re on long layoffs.

On November 16, Jose Ramirez lost a 10-round unanimous decision to top-ranked undefeated light welterweight contender Arnold Barbosa Jr. That fight was competitive.

If Barbosa Jr. had been stationary, he wouldn’t have won because Ramirez attacked him while he was in the pocket. Devin doesn’t have Barbossa’s evasive style, nor does he have Barbossa’s strength. He won’t be able to do the same thing as knocking out Ramirez.