By Sean Jones: Devin Haney broke his sparring partner’s nose with a big uppercut this week while training for the title defense of his WBC lightweight belt against Jorge Linares on May 29th.
As far as I can tell, Haney’s sparring partner was taking shots one after another without throwing anything back at the time of the injury.
It’s unclear if this is the sparring that Haney (25-0, 15 KOs) is getting routinely to prepare for former three-division world champion Linares (47-5, 29 KOs) on May 29th.
Haney vs. Linares will be heading on DAZN from the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The undercard still hasn’t been filled out yet by Matchroom Boxing, but it should be a decent one.
The Haney – Linares fight winner is believed to be defending against the winner of the Ryan Garcia vs. Javier Fortuna fight, which still hasn’t been announced.
Haney wants credit after beating Linares
“I think he’s the biggest puncher I have faced,” said Devin Haney to Fighthype. “He’s the fastest, and I think he has the most skills. I wouldn’t say it’s the first week of camp because I’ve been training hard, working for weeks now.
“Today, I ran six miles. I’ve been doing two or three workouts a day. I feel ready. If the fight was tomorrow, I’d be able to fight right now. Ryan [Garcia] went in there and did what he’s supposed to do.
“He looked good doing it, even though he did get dropped [by Luke Campbell]. He showed he’s a true champion, he got up, but this is a fighter [Linares] that beat him fairly easy, Luke Campbell.
“So when I win this fight, and when I look good doing it, I want the world to give me my just due,” said Haney.
“I do look at this as extra motivation because I do think Jorge Linares is a better fighter than Gamboa,” Haney said.
“He’s at a better point in his career than Gamboa, and this is a fight where they should give me all my credit.”
Haney is starting to sound a little obsessed about receiving the credit from the boxing public if he beats the 35-year-old Linares.
Devin seems to be hyper-alert about being criticized after he failed to receive credit for his recent win against 38-year-old Yuriorkis Gamboa last November.
If Haney had scanned the comments from boxing fans when the idea of him facing Gamboa was first floated, he would have saved himself the trouble of taking that fight.
Devin hoping to be 100%
“We have two hands,” said Haney when asked what the difference is between this fight with Linares than his last one against Gamboa.
“I make no excuses because I went in there and won every round against Gamboa, but I only had one hand. I went in there and fought with basically a half-broken hand.
“But I make no excuses. Gamboa was a good fight. I went in there and got the win. But this fight, I’m excited for it because it’ll be different,” said Devin.
For Haney to receive credit from fans and the boxing media, he’s going to need to start fighting higher-caliber opposition.
The way Haney is being matched now, it looks like his promoters are scouring the ranks of the old-timers for easy marks.
“It’s the full arsenal, the whole package. Against Gamboa, I was 55, 60%. This fight, hopefully, I’m a 100%. Styles make fights, we’ll see how the fight plays out.
“The people are going to say what they want to say. The key to it is to get the win and look good doing it,” said Haney about this fight against Linares on May 29th.