WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney and mandatory challenger Joseph Diaz Jr had a heated exchange on Saturday on Twitter. Haney (26-0, 15 KOs) gave Diaz Jr. his two cents about him possibly not facing him next after winning a WBC 135-lb title eliminator against Javier Fortuna on July 9th.
Diaz Jr. could be facing the popular lightweight contender Ryan Garcia next in a fight in October. If the fight gets made, Diaz Jr. (32-1-1, 15 KOs) would likely get a massive payday, bigger than what he would receive as the mandatory challenger to Haney.
For Haney, he’s unhappy that Diaz Jr would be the second mandatory challenger that chose NOT to fight him for his WBC title after winning a World Boxing Council mandated title eliminator.
Joseph Diaz Jr: “For those of y’all saying I’m ducking Haney, I’m just sticking 🖕 at ya. I haven’t received any offer nor contract. The f***.”
Devin Haney: “These fighters need to stop with the excuses. If you don’t want to fight me, just say that!”
“This will be the first time In history that you see two mandatories opted out to fight the champion!”
Joseph Diaz Jr: “Stfu chump, you got that belt handed to you. Imma f*** you up.”
Devin Haney: “You lost [to Shavkat Rakhimov], and they gave you a draw, you a BUM.”
Last January, Ryan Garcia knocked out Luke Campbell in the seventh round in a WBC 135lb title eliminator to become Haney’s mandatory. Interestingly, immediately after winning the fight with Campbell, Ryan made it clear that he wouldn’t use mandatory status to challenge Haney.
Instead, Ryan said he wanted to face Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. That fight never happened, and here Ryan is now likely to face Joseph Diaz Jr in October with no world titles on the line.
Unless the WBC or one of the other sanctioning bodies puts up a title, Ryan and Diaz Jr will just be fighting with no belts at stake in October.
Haney, 22, hasn’t said who he’ll defend his WBC lightweight title against next if Diaz Jr chooses to go through with the fight with Ryan.
You can argue that Jorge Linares wouldn’t mind a rematch with Haney after losing a 12 round decision on May 29th.
Linares hurt Haney in the later rounds of the fight and had him holding on from the 10th round on. It was not an impressive performance from Haney, particularly how he was holding in the last three rounds.
The referee let Haney get away with his clinching without warning him or taking points off.
These are excellent potential options for Haney’s next fight:
Richard Commey
Yvan Mendy
Zaur Abdullaev
Luke Campbell
Masayoshi Nakatani
Emmanuel Tagoe
George Kambosos Jr
Isaac Cruz Jr.
Francesco Patera
Francisco Vargas