Tim Bradley warns Brian Norman Jr. not to make the mistake of trying to outbox Devin Haney this Saturday night in Riyadh. He says it would be a mistake for Norman Jr. (28-0, 22 KOs) to attempt to beat a “pure boxer” like Haney (32-0, 16 KOs) at his own game.
(Credit: Queensberry/Leigh Dawney)
Norman Jr. is defending his WBO welterweight title against Haney in the chief support fight on November 22nd on DAZN PPV at Ring IV at the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Haney will attempt to become a three-division world champion against what many boxing fans believe is the #1 welterweight, Norman Jr.
The One Mistake Norman Can’t Make
In the lead-up to the event, Norman Jr. has talked off and on about how he believes he can deal with Haney’s movement by boxing him. It would be wacky that he would consider trying to beat Devin at his own game. But he may be just trying to throw him off.
“This is his third fight this year. He’s coming in with all the momentum,” said Tim Bradley on his channel, talking about Brian Norman Jr. in his title defense against Devin Haney this Saturday night. “This is his weight class. He’s 3 for 3 with three nasty KOs.”
In Norman Jr’s two fights in 2025, he’s knocked out Jin Sasaki in five rounds and stopped Derrieck Cuevas in three. In 2024, Norman Jr. gained a lot of attention by stopping Giovanni Santillan in 10 rounds on May 18th.
“If Norman Jr. fought the two guys Haney struggled against [Ryan Garcia and Jose Ramirez], he’d beat them both. Ryan Garcia, Brian Norman Jr. would whoop your behind, too,” said Bradley. “Jose Ramirez, Brian Norman Jr. would tax your behind, too. Haney is coming into this match off two lackluster performances.”
Norman Jr’s power and pressure style of fighting would be difficult for Ramirez and Ryan Garcia to deal with. If Ryan couldn’t hurt him with his left hook, he’d be in for a long night. Ramirez, 33, was a good fighter years ago, but he appears to have lost a lot from his game.
Power-Boxing Blueprint for Norman
“If you think you’re going to get in the ring and you’re going to outbox a pure boxer, you’ve lost your damn mind,” said Bradley about what Norman Jr. shouldn’t do. “You not going to outbox no damn Devin Haney. You going to have to power box him if he going to box.You going to have to come forward.”
In the last two days, Norman Jr. has been talking about wanting to go for a knockout against Haney. Yesterday, he said he was going to be looking to “kill” him on Saturday.