Devin Haney putting in hard work for Yuriorkis Gamboa fight on Nov.7

By Boxing News - 09/21/2020 - Comments

By Sean Jones: Devin Haney is putting in the grueling work in getting ready for his title defense against grizzled 39-year-old veteran Yuriorkis Gamboa in seven weeks from now on November 7 on DAZN.

WBC lightweight champion Haney (24-0 15 KOs) is training hard already despite the fight with former IBF/WBA featherweight champion Gamboa (30-3, 18 KOs) not finalized.

If Haney doesn’t fight Gamboa, then his promoters at Matchroom Boxing will find him a similar talent. Many quality contenders would jump at the chance to challenge the 21-year-old Haney during the pandemic.

Many of them aren’t fighting, and he would be doing them a big favor if he gave them a title shot.

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Gary Russell Jr has dropped out of the picture for the Haney fight after quieting down with his Instagram posts.

Many boxing fans now believe that WBC featherweight champion Russell Jr never wanted the match against Haney, to begin with, and was name dropping to get attention from fans without having to stick his neck out and fight.

Image: Devin Haney putting in hard work for Yuriorkis Gamboa fight on Nov.7

It’s not a given that Haney will beat Gamboa, and that’s a little troubling. Even with Gamboa pushing 40, he’s still faster and more potent than Haney is now. That’s a testament to Gamboa’s great physical ability.

He was born with speed and power, and still, a lot left. The thing is, the lightweight division isn’t Gamboa’s natural weight class. He started his career at 126, and that was where he was at his best. Gamboa isn’t as explosive at 135 compared to when he was fighting at featherweight nine years ago in 2011.

Haney wants Lomachenko

Provided that Haney can defeat Gamboa on November 7, he says he’d like to take on WBA/WBC/WBO lightweight champion Vasily Lomachenko in a unification match.

For Haney to get a fight against Lomachenko, he’ll need to do it possibly after his next fight against IBF champion Teofimo Lopez. Loma is believed to be moving back down to 130 after he faces Teofimo, as he’ll have accomplished his goal of becoming the undisputed lightweight champion if he wins that bout.

Lomachenko doesn’t want to stay at 135 to try ad fight all the other top fighters, which is understandable. He’d probably not get a chance to face Gervonta Davis or Ryan Garcia because they’re with different promoters.

Image: Devin Haney putting in hard work for Yuriorkis Gamboa fight on Nov.7

In order not to waste his career, Lomachenko will likely be moving down after the Lopez fight. If Haney still wants to fight Lomachenko, he may need to move down to 130 temporarily to face him.

For Haney, he would have to move down to super featherweight soon for that fight with Lomachenko because he’s not going to be able to stay his current weight class for too much longer. Haney is getting bigger, and it’ll be too late for him to face Loma if he waits much longer.