By Kenneth Friedman: Devin Haney vs. Yuriorkis Gamboa will be taking place on November 7th at the Hard Rock Seminole in Hollywood, Florida. Steve Kim reports the news of WBC lightweight champion Haney (24-0, 15 KOs) and 38-year-old Gamboa (30-3, 18 KOs)Â being staged in that location.
Haney (24-0, 15 KOs) and his team picked former IBF/WBA featherweight champion Gamboa over Gary Russell Jr for his next opponent. There’s talk that DAZN preferred Gamboa over the 32-year-old Russell, who has never fought at 135 before in his career.
With Russell having never competed at lightweight, there was no way of knowing how he would have performed in this weight class. But given Rusell’s amateur background, it’s possible that he would have given Haney a lot to think about.
Haney facing his first name opponent
Despite Gamboa edging close to 40, he still has the name recognition that the 21-year-old Haney needs for him to become a star. Haney has been fighting little known opposition since turning professional in 2015.
Devin’s last six opponents:
- Alfredo Santiago
- Zaur Abdullaev
- Antonio Moran
- Xolisani Ndongeni
- Juan Carlos Burgos
- Mason Menard
Given that Haney hasn’t fought anyone notable yet, all we can say is he’s better than the guys he’s been put in with. It is interesting to note that it took Haney nine rounds to defeat Mason Menard by a nine-round technical decision in 2018.
In contrast, Teofimo Lopez stopped Menard in a first-round knockout in December 2018. Jut going by those results; we’d have to say that Teofimo is a better fighter than Haney.
Gamboa was an excellent world championship-level fighter in 2009 and 2010, winning the IBF and WBA 126-pound titles before leaving the division to go up to 130 and then later 135. He never was able to find the same level of success at super featherweight and lightweight that he did fighting at 126.
Gamboa has a shot at beating Haney if he can turn the fight into a war and not let him box. Haney isn’t a puncher, and he never will be. He’s more of a Floyd Mayweather Jr technician type of fighter, and he’s going to be trying to pound out a decision over Gamboa.
Devin lacks the power to knockout Gamboa
Although Haney is saying that he wants to knock Gamboa out, that’s unlikely. He doesn’t have enough pop in his punches, and he’s not going to want to put himself in harm’s way to try and knock out the 2004 Olympic gold medalist.
For the one-legged Gamboa to make it to the 12th round against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis last December, that shows that he’s got a decent chin. Tank stopped Gamboa in the 12th round, but it was far from an easy fight for him.
It stands to reason that if Gamboa could go until the 12th against Tank, he’ll make it through the entire fight with Haney without being knocked out. Haney doesn’t punch like Tank, Ryan Garcia or Teofimo Lopez.
Haney vs. Gamboa will be behind closed doors at the Hard Rock Seminole. For the fight to take place in front of a live gate, it would need to be moved to 2021. It’s not a big enough fight for it to be postponed until next year.
When Haney starts facing the bigger names like Ryan Garcia, Teofimo Lopez, Vasily Lomachenko, and Teofimo Lopez, that’s when he’ll need a live audience. However, it’s questionable whether Haney will ever face Teofimo or Lomachenko because those guys fight on ESPN and are promoted by Top Rank. Haney’s best chance of fighting a big name is Ryan Garcia, who also fights on DAZN like him.
Also, the November 27th contest between former IBF/WBA middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs and journeyman Gabe Rosado will be staged at the Hard Rock Seminole in Hollywood, Florida as well. That fight will be headlining on DAZN.