WBC hasn’t reinstated Devin Haney, the decision hasn’t been made

By Boxing News - 04/10/2020 - Comments

By Kenneth Friedman: The WBC hasn’t yet decided whether they’ll reinstate Devin Haney as the WBC lightweight champion with their organization. Haney will need to give the WBC a medical certificate about his shoulder problem before they decide whether to grant his request to reinstate him as their lightweight champion.

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman says that Haney (24-0, 15 KOs) has sent them a letter asking to be reinstated as their 135-pound champion, but they still need to decide on this.

Haney was stripped of his WBC title and given the ‘Champion in Recess’ last November after he suffered a shoulder injury in his title defense against Alfredo Santiago. At the time, Haney, 21, was supposed to defend the WBC title against mandatory Javier Fortuna (35-2-1, 24 KOs) in his next fight.

WBC wants medical certificate from Haney

Rather than wait to see how long it would take for Haney to heal up, the World Boxing Council stripped him of his title and ordered #1 Fortuna and #2 Luke Campbell (20-3, 16 KOs) to fight for the WBC lightweight belt.

“We have received a letter by Haney, and we have requested a medical certificate of clearance,” WBC president Sulaiman said to ESPN. “Once we have it, the WBC will address the matter and evaluate the steps to follow. Campbell vs. Fortuna was ordered and contracted for April 17. So we will take all matters into consideration.”

Campbell and Fortuna were scheduled to fight on April 17, but the fight needed to be postponed because of the pandemic.

With the Campbell vs. Fortuna fight under contract to fight for the vacant WBC lightweight title, it’s a complicated situation for the WBC. The last thing they want is to be mired down in this mess. In some respects, it might be better for the Campbell-Fortuna fight to play out, and then Haney is allowed to face the winner.

With the situation as it is with the pandemic, we might not see Haney’s problems with the WBC resolved anytime soon.

Should the WBC have waited before stripping Haney?

Some boxing fans believe the WBC acted too quickly in removing Haney of his title and giving him the ‘Champion in Recess’ tag. What they arguably should have done is waited a few months before they made their decision to strip Haney.

They were dealing with a younger fighter, not an older one that requires more time to heal. If Haney in his 30s, then maybe it would have been a good move for the WBC to strip him. But he’s only 21, and people that young heal fast, and can bounce back quickly from injuries.

Haney has the talent to beat the winner of the Campbell vs. Fortuna fight and do it with ease.

What Haney doesn’t like about the WBC ordering the Campbell-Fortuna fight is the fact that the 2012 Olympic gold medalist Campbell, 32, is coming off of a loss to Vasiliy Lomachenko last August.

With the vacant WBC lightweight title on the line, Lomachenko beat Campbell by a 12 round unanimous decision. The WBC’s decision to let Campbell immediately fight for the WBC 135-lb title again just looks odd to Haney. Campbell should have had to rebuild himself before being given another chance to fight for a world title.

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