By Sean Jones: Devin Haney is interested very much in a fight against former four-division world champion Adrien Broner, and he views it as a colossal match-up for him. WBC lightweight champion Haney (24-0, 15 KOs) sees Broner (33-4-1, 24 KOs) as potentially the most significant match for him at 135 if he can return to the division like he’s been talking about.
Broner, 31, told Haney that he wants to reduce his weight slowly from 162 so he can compete at 135, which he says is his regular weight class. He’s been fighting at welterweight for the last seven years with less than impressive results since 2013.
When Broner moved down to 140 in 2017 for the Mikey Garcia match, he took the weight off too quickly and was weight-drained for the contest. Mikey took advantage of Broner’s lack of energy to beat him.
Broner has lost two out of his three fights, and he hasn’t won an actual contest since his very questionable 10 round decision over Adrian Granados in 2017. It’s now or never for Broner. He either moves back down to 130 or 135, or he watches what’s left of his career go down the drain.
Broner to lose weight slowly
“That’s my little bro. He was big bro when he was doing things,” said Haney to Fighthype in demoting Broner from big bro to little bro. “When he was doing his thing, he was hot.
“Now he’s little bro. He told me he’s coming back at 135. And he said he can make the weight. He said he’s coming back down to 135, and all the little guys will be devastated,” said Haney.
It’s interesting how the 21-yar-old Haney has DEMOTED Broner, who is ten years older than him to be his “little brother” now. That’s the unkindest cut of all.
Broner has won world titles in four weight classes, and the success he had earlier in his career is something that Haney could only dream of achieving. Haney’s stance towards Broner is the standard thing you see from fans.
It’s not about what you used to be. It’s more like, ‘What have you done lately,’ and if you’re not still achieving, then you’re yesterday’s news.
“Little bro, I don’t think you understand how strong I really am. I’m not a welterweight. I just keep going because I’m strong like the big mother-f****, but I’m a natural lightweight,'” said Haney in reading what Broner said to him recently on social media. I said, ‘when you get down [to 135], you’re going to be dead.’
“He said, ‘I’m not fat or that big, and I’m not going to rush. I’m going to do everything right, so I’m not drained.’ I said, ‘How much do you weigh right now? I can see me picking your weight.’ He said, “I’m 155 to 162 after eating this s*** all day,'” said Haney.
Broner hasn’t entirely made up his mind yet about whether he’ll return to 135, saying that he would come back for the ‘right fight.’ You can read that to me that he wants one of the top guys at lightweight like Haney, Vasiliy Lomachenko, Ryan Garcia, Gervonta Davis, or Teofimo Lopez.
It would be better for Broner to return to 135 against one of the contenders in the division so that he can show the elite fighters that he really can compete at a high level in the division.
Right now, the promoters for the elite guys would see Broner as just trying to scrounge up a payday that he hasn’t earned.
Devin: Adrien would be crazy to fight me
“I said, ‘One day, the little brother gets big and strong and beats his big brother up,'” Haney continued. “He didn’t post that part. He sounded serious [about wanting to fight], but I don’t know. There’s a lot of big fights out there.
“That’s crazy,” said Haney about a fight between him and Broner. “I used to watch him. I liked him. Sometimes you got to whoop your little brother. You don’t want to do it, but you have to do it.”
It could potentially blow up in Haney’s face if he takes the Broner fight and loses to him. Getting beaten by Broner would show that Haney isn’t the fighter that he and his boxing fans think he is.
People would need to reassess their opinions on Haney’s talent or lack thereof. We already know Haney can’t punch, and he’s not that fast, and he’s also slow on his feet.
“That’s what this is. I really don’t want to do it to you, but I will do it to you. He took a lot of time off. I don’t know,” said Haney when asked if Broner can perform like he used to. “We got to see it. One fight can put you back in there. You never count anybody out.
“One fight you can look good, and it’ll put you right back in there. In a fight with Devin Haney, I don’t know. To get in there with me, he would be crazy,” Devin said.
Haney is overestimating his talent when he says that Broner would be “crazy” to fight him. If Broner was able to go 12 rounds with the likes of Manny Pacquiao last year in January 2019, then he can coast through an entire fight against a non-puncher like Haney.
Haney views Broner as the biggest fight for him
“He’s got a name, and he can make money with anybody,” said Haney. “But a fight against Devin Haney would be crazy. We talked about it a little bit,” said Haney on him talking to Floyd Mayweather Jr about the possibility of fighting Broner.
“It would be a big fight. He’s a troll. He knows what he’s doing. You know about games. It’s ‘About Out of Business.’ He’s smart. That’s why, after all these times, he can come back and be in a big fight easily because he markets himself well.
“If he were to lose to somebody, he’d still be bigger than the person he lost to. He lost to Shawn Porter, and he’s bigger than Shawn Porter too. And he lost to Mikey Garcia, and he’s still bigger than Mikey Garcia.
“He said he might come back next year. All of them would be big fights, but AB would be the biggest threat. For the casual boxing fan,” said Haney.
Broner might be a bigger fight for Haney than Vasiliy Lomachenko, Teofimo Lopez, Ryan Garcia, or Tank Davis. He’s been around longer than those fighters have, and he’s been involved in a lot bigger fights. Lomachenko has never fight anyone famous during his career, and he’s older than Broner at 32.