By Matt Lieberman: Jorge Linares and Devin Haney have agreed to a fight slotted for the main event on DAZN in May. The WBC lightweight champion Haney (25-0, 15 KOs) will be defending against his #3 WBC contender Linares (47-5, 29 KOs).
Mike Coppinger’s “sources” have informed him of the 22-year-old Haney to face the 35-year-old Linares, whose career has been hobbling along lately 2 knockout losses in his last 5 fights.
This is a slight step up for Haney from his last fight against fringe contender Yuriorkis Gamboa last November. Linares is ranked higher than Gamboa, but he’s struggled just as much as the Cuban fighter in his recent fights.
You can’t call this much of a step up for Haney from the Gamboa fight, as Linares was blown out by a very average Pablo Cano by a first-round knockout in 2019.
Although Linares has won his last two fights since then, he’s done it against low-level opposition. It’s likely that if Linares had fought someone with power, he’d end up getting knocked out again.
It’s unclear if this was the best that Haney’s promoters at Matchroom Boxing could get for him to fight. #2 WBC Javier Fortuna, Richard Commey, and Masayoshi Nakatani would all likely jump at the chance to fight Haney if given the opportunity.
This isn’t the fight that the fans wanted to see from Haney after he publically called out former WBA/WBC/WBO lightweight champion Vasily Lomachenko at the start of the week.
Haney instigating a fight with Lomachenko earlier this week:
“Where tf is Loma at!?!?!? I’m free end of April or early May.”
Lomachenko responded in disbelief, saying, “Are you organizing our fight?”
Obviously, Lomachenko suspected that Haney was using him to name drop/clout chasing to help get attention from boxing fans that see him as the secondary WBC lightweight champion behind Teofimo Lopez.
Lomachenko has likely learned his lesson not to respond to Haney in the future when he mentions his name on social media.
“Sources: Devin Haney and Jorge Linares have agreed to a lightweight fight that will headline a DAZN card in May. Big step-up for the rising star. Linares was knocked out in the [first round] by Pablo Cesar Cano two years ago, but that was at 140; he gave Vasiliy Lomachenko hell at 135,” said @MikeCoppinger.
Contrary to what Coppinger says about Linares giving Lomachenko “hell,” it was a one-sided fight other than a flash knockdown of Loma in round six. Linares was dominated the entire contest by Lomachenko and stopped with a body shot in the 10th round.
Linares’ past knockout losses:
- Antonio DeMarco – 11th round TKO
- Sergio Thompson – 2nd round TKO
- Juan Carlos Salgado – 1st round TKO
- Vasily Lomchenko – 10th round TKO
- Pablo Cesar Cano – 1st round TKO
Despite being old and having a long history of being knocked out, Linares is still faster and more powerful than Haney.
That tells you a little bit about Haney. Devin is sometimes compared to Mayweather by admiring fans, but he wasn’t blessed with his hand speed, and he’s not much of a puncher.
If Linares’ chin doesn’t betray him in this fight, he might beat Haney, which won’t make Eddie Hearn of Matchroom too happy.