Devin Haney is calling the shots with Gervonta Davis, telling him that if he wants the payday that comes with fighting him, he’ll need to come up to 140 for that privilege because he’s not returning to the 135-lb division.
Haney says that even if he did return to 135, Gervonta (29-0, 27 KOs) wouldn’t care about his undisputed championship because he just wants the money. He’s probably right about that, considering Tank has not shown any interest in capturing any additional belts to go along with his WBA ‘regular’ lightweight title.
The Mayweather Promotions fighter Tank Davis has been content to hold that secondary World Boxing Association strap and defend it against lower B & C level opposition while ignoring the A-level & elite-level fighters.
If Tank is too prideful or if PBC & Mayweather Promotions don’t like the idea of him going up to 140 in a fight that won’t be a sure thing like he’s been accustomed to, he won’t face Haney. That’ll probably be the case anyway because they won’t like the idea of their fighter Gervonta being shown that he’s buckling under.
Haney doesn’t need Tank Davis to make good money because he’s got good opportunities at 140 against WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis on December 9th in their fight on DAZN PPV at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California.
If Haney wins that fight, he can face WBO 140-lb champion Teofimo Lopez in a unification clash or IBF champ Subriel Matias.
Tank must move up to 140 to face Haney
“It will have to happen at 140. He wouldn’t care about the belts at 135. He would just want to end up making the money and fighting me,” said Devin Haney to Ariel Helwani’s Internet site about a fight with Gervonta Davis needing to take place at light welterweight or not at all.
You can argue that Tank Davis doesn’t want to take risks with his career, so he’s not going to pursue a fight with Haney at 140 for the sake of money. Looking at it logically.
If Tank wasn’t interested in fighting Haney when he was at 135, why would he want to move up to 140 to fight face a stronger version? It doesn’t make sense.
Tank has got a good thing going at 135 with the way Mayweather Promotions matches him, making easy money. He’s not going to want to mess with that formula by taking chances by going up to 140.
“He didn’t look good,” said Haney when asked about his thoughts on Regis Prograis’ last fight against Danielito Zorrilla last June. “He fought a crafty, awkward type of opponent. I was surprised. I don’t know the guy he was fighting.
“I’ve never seen him fight. So, I think Regis was going to go in there and blow him out of the water, but he didn’t. I called him out before that. My dad actually went to that fight to scout and go look at him and see how he looked and everything because we knew he was one of the guys that we could fight that would possibly make happen.
“I talked to Eddie [Hearn] about making that fight before that. He’s [Prograis] not happy with the performance he put on. Of course, he’s going to say that.
“Have you ever heard about that?” said Haney about Prograis, saying that he paid to have one of his early losses in Mexico erased from his record. “You hear about crazy stuff in boxing. We’ve never known anyone who has done that. That’s movie-type s**t.
“I’m a special kind of fighter. I haven’t lost in the United States. So, for me to lose in Mexico. All respect to the Mexican fighters and the fighters in Tijuana. It made me the fighter I am today, but come on now. I’m undefeated, undisputed. For me to lose in Mexico, come on, now, bro.
“Rolly was the first person that I heard say that. Rumors start, and then it picks up,” said Haney about when the talk about him erasing a loss first originated. “It’s part of s**t talking.
“People are going to say, but I do know Regis got dropped in his last fight, and they robbed his opponent [Zorilla] of that drop. If they had counted that, he would have either gotten a draw or a loss. So, he needs to stop talking. We know some stuff about him, too.
“Yeah, he admitted that he got dropped. He said it looked like a knockdown to me. Because he knows my record is squeaky clean. My name has no blemishes on it. Of course, he’s going to come with something,” said Haney on why Prograis is talking about him having paid to erase a loss from his record.
“It’s part of building a fight. He can say what he wants to say. He’s going to come with some more stuff. Once that dies out, he’s going to come with something new,” said Haney.
