Floyd Mayweather Jr. of Mayweather Promotions says his reasons for training Devin Haney, a fighter NOT signed to his company, is because he’s a young kid that “asked for my advice.” Mayweather’s decision to train WBC lightweight champion Haney (24-0, 15 KOs) has ruffled the feathers of his own fighter WBA 135lb champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. The latter is signed to his Mayweather Promotions company and is a direct rival of Haney.
According to Mayweather, it’s no big deal that he’s training Haney because he’s moving up to 140 after one more fight, and Tank Davis fights at 130. Tank fights at 135, NOT 130, as Mayweather says, and he’s currently in the same division as Devin Haney.
So for Mayweather to be training Haney rather than focusing his attention on Tank Davis, his own fighter, it has some fans and boxers wondering what’s going on. Adrien Broner, for one, doesn’t look like what Mayweather is doing, and sees him as “Sonning” Tank Davis.
“Listen, it’s obvious, I’m giving back to the sport. At the end of the day, that’s a black kid that asked for my advice and asked for my help,” said Mayweather to Fighthype on him training Devin Haney.
“Him and Tank aren’t fighting. Devin Haney is fighting only one more fight at 135. He’s going to 140. Gervonta Davis fights at 130,” said Mayweather.
Floyd is probably right about Tank and Haney not planning on fighting each other. Tank has been with Mayweather Promotions for several years, and he’s not been matched against any of the famous fighters. So it’s not surprising that Mayweather is saying that Tank isn’t fighting Haney because a fight like that would be a considerable departure for the way he’s been matched by Mayweather Promotions.
Mayweather is wrong about Tank Davis fighting at 130. The two-division world champion Gervonta Davis (23-0, 22 KOs) USED to fight at super featherweight [130]. Still, he moved up to 135 in his last fight in December and stopped 38-year-old Yuriorkis Gamboa (30-3, 18 KOs) in the 12th round to win the vacant WBA ‘regular’ lightweight title. So, Tank is now fighting in the same division as Devin Haney.
“All I’m doing is helping a young black kid become successful,” said Mayweather. “I’m going to continue to help young black fighters grow. I want the best for all these fighters. And I want the best for Tank, and I want the best for Devin.
“It’s no different from anyone supporting their own first. Mexicans support Mexicans, Dominicans support Dominicans, Chinese support Chinese, Puerto Ricans support Puerto Ricans. I’m a black American supporting my people first,” said Mayweather.
It wouldn’t be a big deal for Mayweather to be training Haney if he were signed to his Mayweather Promotions company or if he were fighting in a weight class where he’s not potentially competing with one of his own fighters. That’s not how it is. Haney isn’t signed with Mayweather Promotions, and he’s fighting in the same division as Floyd’s fighter Tank Davis.
If Tank ends up losing to Haney one of these days, it’s going to look bad if he’s still with Mayweather Promotions. Fans are going to point to Mayweather as having helped an outside fighter beat one of his most talented guys in Tank Davis.
We’ll see how this thing ends up, but it doesn’t bode well for Mayweather when it comes time for him to re-sign Gervonta Davis when his contract is up. After all, this mess, will Tank Davis want to re-up with Mayweather Promotions? I think it’s highly doubtful that Tank will stay with them.
It would be understandable in some respects for Mayweather to be training Haney if he were seen as a significant talent, but he’s not that type of fighter. Although Haney holds the WBC lightweight title, it was given to him outside of the ring by the World Boxing Council. Haney hasn’t fought any of the good lightweights yet, and he had a tough time being little known Alfredo Santiago in his last fight in November.
Tank has already proven himself to be an incredible fighter who has stardom written all over him. Why then wouldn’t Mayweather put his focus on him rather than an unproven fighter in Haney, who doesn’t look like he’s got the power, hand speed, or the talent to do big things in the sport.
