The pay-per-view undercard for Devin Haney vs. Ryan Garcia on April 20 has been officially announced.
In total, there will be four fights on the PPV card.
Here’s a quick recap, and as you’d expect when the show was officially announced in 17 days on April 3, it’s nothing that’s going to blow anyone away.
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Arnold Barboza Jr vs Sean McComb in a 10-round super lightweight fight. Barboza was already announced to appear on the show, and there was speculation that he was waiting impatiently if Haney or Garcia pulled out of the main event for some reason.
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Bektemir Melikuziev will take Pierre Dibombe in a 10-round super middleweight fight.
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John “Scrappy” Ramirez will face David Jimenez in a 12-round fight for the interim WBA flyweight title.
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Charles Conwell will make his debut in a 10-round fight with Golden Boy Nathaniel Gallimore.
Barboza (29-0, 11 KO) made his Golden Boy debut in January after joining from Top Rank, stopping Xolisani Ndongeni after eight rounds. The 32-year-old is a solid contender who has yet to make it at the highest level and, honestly, that won’t change against McComb (18-1, 5 KO), a 31-year-old southpaw from Belfast who is on a seven-game winning streak. consecutive wins after losing to Gavin Gwynn in 2021. Grades: C This is an average fight compared to where Barboza is at, but again it is believed that there is an alternative reason for his presence on this show. You don’t want to overpay for an opponent if you can slide Barboza into the main event.
Melikuziev (13-1, 10 KO) has won six straight since being one-shotted by Gabe Rosado in 2021, including a tight win over Rosado in a 10-round rematch by decision about a year ago. Dibombe (22-0-1, 12 KO) is a 32-year-old from France who currently does not break the top 100 super middleweight according to BoxRec. He fought most of his career in his home country, although he fought the last two – in 2022 and 2023 – in Canada and the United States, although he did not fight against powerful foes. Grades: D+. Honestly, it’s kind of a guessing game as to whether Dibombe has any chance of competing here, but if you’ve seen enough of these fights in boxing, your gut feeling will lead you to be despondent.
Ramirez (13-0, 9 KO) is a guy Golden Boy really wants behind him, sort of a mini-Blair Cobbs but not that ancient. The 27-year-old has been involved in fights and has been brutally unappealing to watch at times, but at other times he shows he can live up to his “Scrappy” nickname, too. Last time he made a good save on Ronal Batista. Jimenez, 31, is playing at a higher level, following a close victory over Ricardo Sandoval in 2022 and a close loss to WBA champion Artem Dalakian in 2023. He has since had three fights, all at a lower level but remaining lively, including two Already This year. Grades: B+. Two fighters undoubtedly in the top 10 in the flyweight division, well matched on paper as Ramirez tries to prove he truly belongs in the higher rankings and Jimenez tries to win another title. I can’t hate it, that’s what you want on a PPV card.
Conwell (18-0, 13 KO) has been stagnant for years. He seemed to be really closing in on being a legitimate contender after solid wins over Madiyar Ashkeyev and Wendy Toussaint in slow 2020, and then had another good fight against Juan Carlos Rubio in 2021. But he hasn’t fought since slow 2022 and looked in this hesitantly, although he won. The 35-year-old Gallimore (22-7-1, 17 KO) has some strength and can be hazardous, but he generally loses to fighters who have real talent. Conwell has talent. Grades: C We’re slightly positive about this as it’s good to see Conwell fighting and to have a promising, still newborn fighter lively again, Golden Boy could do worse than the tough veteran. If Conwell is who we thought he could be, he should come here.
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