WBC light welterweight champion Devin Haney was almost bitten by a bear while hand-feeding in the zoo on Saturday. Haney appeared too slow with his hand-feeding, and the bear turned to the nearest object, Haney’s leg. He came close to being bear chow.
Bite the Dust, Not the Bear
If not for the trainers jumping in quickly, the bear might have gauged a chunk out of Haney’s leg, which would have wrecked his potential fight with Ryan Garcia. For someone who almost got his leg munched on, Haney looked nonchalant about it, like it was an everyday thing for him.
Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) is still taking his victory lap from his one-sided twelve round unanimous decision win over WBC 140-lb champion Regis Prograis on December 9th at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California.
That fight was supposed to have been competitive, but Haney dominated the 35-year Prograis in a fight that was so one-sided that it was on the dull side.
Regis looked so old in that fight, and it was obvious afterward that Devin’s management had selected him well.
Haney & his dad, Bill, had hoped to use the victory to entice Gervonta Davis to come up to 140 for a massive payday, but Tank thought better of it, perhaps worried about Devin rehydrating to 165 lbs.
Ryan Garcia figures to be an easy mark for Haney, but he’ll get a nice payday due to Kingry’s huge 11 million Instagram followers, who will gladly order the fight on PPV.
Hardcore boxing fans wanted to see Haney face a worthy opponent, like Subriel Matias, Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, Shakur Stevenson, or Teofimo Lopez.
Ryan Garcia looked poor in his last fight against lightweight fringe contender Oscar Duarte on December 2nd, and it was too shaky of a performance by Kingry for fans to want to pay to see Devin fight him.
Congrats to Devin Haney, who is ESPN’s Fighter of the Year runner-up for the second consecutive year. He’s building an incredible resume, and his ‘23 was even better with a thrilling win over Loma to remain undisputed and then a shutout over Prograis to become two-division champ.
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) December 29, 2023
