Tim Bradley contends that Liam Paro pricing himself out of a fight with Devin Haney amounts to another form of ducking the WBO welterweight champion.
Talks involving Haney and Paro failed to produce a deal, leaving Haney searching for a challenger for his first defense of the belt. Bradley gave Paro little benefit of the doubt when discussing why negotiations collapsed.
“Did Liam Paro price himself out? Is that another form of duck?” Bradley said on his channel. “Anyways, that’s a form of ducking. That’s another form of ducking right there.”
Bradley’s accusation comes after Keyshawn Davis passed on his opportunity to challenge Haney through the WBO process. Top Rank won the purse bid with an offer of $8.55 million, giving Haney 75 percent and Davis 25 percent. Keyshawn’s share would have been approximately $2.14 million.
Davis was rumored to want around $5 million for the fight, considerably more than his share from the purse bid.
Paro’s financial expectations haven’t been made public, making it difficult to know how far apart the two sides were. Bradley nevertheless views the collapse of another potential Haney fight as further evidence that opponents are avoiding the champion.
“You would think that a guy with tremendous punching power, right, you would think that everybody would try to duck that smoke like a Mike Tyson or something like that, but damn, you got people ducking Debo Dev, who’s not the biggest puncher,” Bradley said.
The former champion sees Haney’s technical skill rather than punching power as the main issue making potential rivals reluctant to face him.
“I guess his boxing skills is what spooks everybody about Debo Dev.”
With Paro out of the picture, Haney still needs a foe for his next defense. While Bradley insists fighters are actively avoiding him, the financial disagreements surrounding these negotiations suggest business is playing just as big a role.
