Devin Haney wants his fight with Ryan Garcia to be staged in Saudi Arabia next. The two are in active negotiations, and the fight could take place in early 2024 if they can get it over the line. There would be a lot of money for Haney to make fighting in Saudi Arabia, so that would be ideal.
The payday Haney could get fighting in Saudi Arabia would likely be huge and would make up for the possibility of low PPV sales for that fight.
Ryan has a large following on social media, but it’s questionable whether fans will be interested in ordering that fight for $70+ on PPV. Haney isn’t popular and has a fighting style similar to Shakur Stevenson’s but even more boring than his.
147 on the horizon?
If the Ryan fight doesn’t get made, Bill Haney says Devin could go up to 147 to get his feet wet. Mario Barrios has been mentioned as a possibility. Devin won’t fight Terence Crawford or Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis in his first fight at 147 for obvious reasons.
Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) recently won the WBC light welterweight title from Regis Prograis on December 9th, and he wanted to face Gervonta Davis in his first defense. The feelings weren’t mutual, so Devin is moving on.
The 25-year-old Haney didn’t help his chances of getting the Tank Davis fight by refusing to entertain a catchweight or rehydration clause, but considering that Devin rehydrated to 165 for his fight with Prograis, it would be physically impossible to fight below 140 or use a rehydration clause. Haney is killing himself now to melt down 25 lbs to get to 140.
Saudi Arabia dreaming
“That’s always the goal, just like 135, clearing out the 140-lb division and exploring opportunities at 147 as well simultaneously,” said Bill Haney to Fight Hub TV when asked if Devin Haney is interested in capturing all the belts at light welterweight.
Bill Haney might be a tad bit disingenuous talking about having his son Devin fight for belts at 140 because that would involve him fighting IBF champion Subriel Matias & WBO champ Teofimo Lopez.
Those aren’t good match-ups for Devin. It’s likely that Haney will move up to 147 after his fight with Ryan Garcia unless he can get the Gervonta Davis clash.
“Terence [Crawford] is a friend of ours, a friend of the family, and a decorated champ. He has a rematch with Errol Spence, and I think he’ll be going up to 154. But we don’t want any talks between Terence Crawford and Devin Haney right now,” said Bill.
If Bill wanted to be a good friend, he’d give Crawford the opportunity to fight Devin because it would give the Nebraska native an opportunity for another big payday before he hangs up his gloves in two or three fights.
“Right now, we’re not looking at Terence Crawford. We celebrate Terence Crawford. Congratulations, and we have nothing bad to say about him. The most realistic fights are the ones we talked about [Ryan Garcia and Gervonta Davis],” said Bill.
“We’re in negotiations, but my dream is to fight here in Saudi,” said Devin Haney about him being in negotiations with Ryan Garcia, and wanting to fight in Saudi Arabia.
