Devin Haney (26-0, 15 KOs) says he had more wins than Floyd Mayweather Jr. when the money man was age 23 in 2001. The 23-year-old Haney says he believes he could do something next year that Mayweather never did by becoming an undisputed champion at lightweight.
Mayweather was on a different level than Haney when he was 23. That’s not a knock on Haney because he’s an excellent fighter at 23, but he still doesn’t have a signature win on his resume.
In contrast, Mayweather had already beaten these excellent fighters by the time he was 23:
- Diego Corrales
- Jesus Chavez
- Carlos Hernandez
- Angel Manfredy
- Emanuel Augustus
- Justin Juuko
- Genaro Hernandez
“He was 24, and I was 23,” said Haney in reacting to DAZN comparing him to Mayweather in noting that they both shared the same 26-0 record at age 23. “By the time I’m 24, I should have two more fights, and I’ll have more wins, but he had more knockouts.
In terms of entertainment, when Floyd was 23, he was a knockout puncher, going for stoppages and looking sensational. We haven’t seen that kind of fighting style from Haney, who tends to keep the action on the outside with him using his jab to win fights.
Devin’s best wins
- Jorge Linares
- Yuriorkis Gamboa
- Alfredo Santiago
- Antonio Moran
- Zaur Abdullaev
- Juan Carlos Burgos
- Xolisani Ndongeni
“Hopefully, I’ll have all the belts by then, and I’ll be undisputed by then,” said Haney when asked if he’ll have a comparable signature win on his resume when he turns 24 like Mayweather did when he defeated Diego Corrales when he was only 23.
Devin shouldn’t get too caught up in becoming undisputed because he’ll fall into the same trap that we’ve seen with Canelo Alvarez. Instead of becoming undisputed, Haney should focus on fighting the best guys at lightweight.
Kambosos is a good fighter, but most boxing fans would agree that Gervonta Davis and Vasily Lomachenko are better fighters than the Australian.
Haney has to get past Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz Jr. (32-1-1, 15 KOs) this Saturday night on DAZN at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
If Haney beats Diaz, his promoter Eddie Hearn will need to potentially outbid Mayweather Promotions to get a fight against undisputed lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr.
Mayweather Promotions are expected to try and set up a fight between their fighter Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Kambosos next if Tank defeats Issac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz this Sunday night on Showtime PPV at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Gervonta is seen by many as the #1 fighter in the lightweight division, but he’s the biggest money-maker as well, with his fights being shown on pay-per-view.
For Matchroom Boxing to get Kambosos to choose Haney over Gervonta, they’ll have to make it worthwhile for him to take the smaller fighter.
I’m no Floyd Junior fan, but Haney needs to clean out his division, beat Tank, Teo, Shakur, Loma, Ryan Garcia, Kambosos, and the rest before he starts to talk about his record compared to anyone before him.
Mr. Haney, please stop and think before you speak. Mayweather is an inspiration to fighters because of what he has ACCOMPLISHED!!!. You are not quite there yet. Actually, your not even close.
I don’t think Mayweather was that good. He ran from a lot of
fights. Compared to Marvelous
Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard, Hit
Man Hearns, and the rest of that generations. Dude put a lot of stipulations on fights. He wasn’t a true fighter in my opinion. But Haney is one big joke.
We talking about floyd when he was 23,who was he running away from? He was knocking people out then.