Devin Haney has a purse bid scheduled on Tuesday for his WBC mandatory Sandor Martin.
A Step-Aside, Vacate or Fight?
WBC light welterweight champion Haney (31-1, 15 KOs) and promoter Eddie Hearn will need to decide if they’re going to go through with the fight with Martin (42-3, 15 KOs), pay him a step aside or vacate the belt.
Devin paying Sandor a step aside would be the smart move if there’s a big fight available. Last Saturday night, Hearn was talking about wanting to match Haney against Liam Paro next after Australia defeated IBF 140-lb champion Surbriel Matias by a 12-round unanimous decision in Puerto Rico.
IBF’s Rehydration Limit Obstacle
If Hearn is going to make the Haney vs. Paro fight, he will move quickly to avert the purse bid tomorrow. It doesn’t seem possible, though, because the IBF’s 10-lb rehydration limit is a hurdle that Haney can’t get past.
It would be physically impossible for Haney to keep his weight at 150 lbs for a fight-date secondary weigh-in without him badly missing the mark by shooting up to 165 lbs.
Devin and his dad, Bill Haney, will be taking a big risk keeping the WBC title and defending against the crafty Spaniard Sandor Martin because this guy has the style to defeat him.
Losing to Ryan Garcia was bad enough, but if Haney gets beaten by Sandor, he’ll be on skidrow. All those dreams of a fight against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, Isaac ‘Pitbull Cruz,’ and a rematch with Ryan would be over for Haney.
If Haney vacates his WBC 140-lb title, he can safely move on and start pushing for a title shot against WBA champion Pitbull Cruz or WBO champ Teofimo Lopez. If Haney is lucky, Tank might throw him a bone and give him a mercy fight.
Haney: A Weight Bully?
“Devin fights the same way every time. You saw that in the Ryan Garcia and the Lomachenko fight. Devin is a weight bully,” said super featherweight Abraham Nova to Fighthype, giving his view of Devin Haney. “He’s a lot bigger than these fighters, and he likes to use his size to get an advantage in a fight.
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