Devin Haney: Will He Wake Up The Welterweight Division?

Bill Haney says his son, Devin, will wake up the 147-lb division just like he did at lightweight and light welterweight. Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) may fall apart in his next fight against Jose Ramirez in May before he even cuts his teeth at 147.

Ramirez Test

Devin’s fight against the former WBC and WBO light welterweight champion Ramirez (29-2, 18 KOs) is a tune-up to prepare him for a rematch with Ryan Garcia in October. Haney has got to get past Ramirez, 32, to create interest in the rematch.

Turki Al-Sheikh will likely put on the Haney-Garcia rematch still, even if Jose Ramirez beats Devin, but the fan interest won’t be there under those circumstances.

“If we had beat Ryan like we would and were supposed to when he’s performing well in the fight, the rematch is worth way more money,” said Bill Haney to Thaboxingvoice, reflecting on Devin Haney’s loss to Ryan Garcia last April.

“If we had scorched [him] and it was a win and decisive, no one would pay for the fight again. But thank you to Turki Al-Sheikh, who stepped up. The controversy sells, and everything that is going on, it’s in the welterweight division.

“We know that the welterweight division has historically been the Sugar Ray Leonards, the Duran, the Errol Spence, the Terence Crawfords, Floyds, Bertos, Keith Thurmans have historically made more money.”

Bill is right about the rematch being worth more due to Devin losing. If he’d beaten Kingry as many had expected, a second fight would be pointless, especially if the victory was one-sided like Haney’s wins over George Kambosos Jr. and Regis Prograis. It worked in Devin’s favor to lose last April.

Haney messed himself up by not staying active in the last 10 months since the defeat because he could have fought twice and made millions. For the former two-division world champion Haney to have sat on the shelf hints at a lack of confidence and unwillingness to risk the mega-money he can make in the rematch with Ryan.

Bill talks of the former greats Leonard, Duran, and Mayweather, but those guys stayed active. They wouldn’t have done what Haney did if they had been beaten. If Devin were cut from the same cloth as those fighters, he’d have returned to the ring by now and fought one of the top contenders at 140.

Welterweight Gauntlet

“So, Devin brought excitement to the lightweight [division]; he woke up the 140-lb division, and we expect to take up the 140-lb division. It’s no different,” said Bill Haney.

For Haney to make his mark at 147, he’ll need to prove himself against Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Eimantas Stanionis. Those are the two best at welterweight. It won’t be enough for Devin to defeat WBC champion Mario Barrios, who is seen as the weakest link among the champions in the division.