By Matt Lieberman: Eddie Hearn reports that tickets have already sold out for the May 29th Matchroom Boxing event between WBC lightweight champion Devin ‘The Dream’ Haney (25-0, 15 KOs) and Jorge Linares (47-5, 29 KOs) at the Mandalay Bay Resort [now known as the “Michelob Ultra Arena] in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Hearn says he’s working with Mandalay Bay to open up more seating to accommodate the high interest in the Haney – Linares fight.
This is a good sign for Hern that Haney, 22, has solid out the Mandalay Bay so quickly, as he’s from the Bay Arena in California. Haney’s fans are willing to travel to Las Vegas to see him fight in large enough numbers to sell out the Mandalay Bay in light speed.
Hearn isn’t saying how many additional tickets will be put on sale, but those will go quickly.
This could be his last fight for Haney before he faces the winner of the July 9th fight between interim WBC lightweight champion Ryan Garcia and Javier Fortuna.
“All #HaneyLinares tickets are now SOLD OUT. We are working with
@MandalayBay to try and release more tickets – look forward to a great night in Vegas! @DAZNBoxing @Realdevinhaney,” said Eddie Hearn.
Haney needs to look good in the Linares fight because he hasn’t shined in his last two matches against Yuriorkis Gamboa and Alfredo Santiago. He was forced to go the full 12 rounds in both of those fights, and his power didn’t look that impressive.
The last fight in which Haney put on a spectacular performance was in his fight against Zaur Abdullaev in 2019. That was against a fighter that hadn’t done anything to be ranked in the top 15.
Like Ryan Garcia, we don’t know how good Haney is as a fighter. We know he can outbox a lot of guys with marginal power, but we don’t know how he will react when he gets inside the ring with a puncher like Linares, Ryan Garcia, and Teofimo Lopez.
Hearn is in a hurry to put together a fight between Haney and Ryan Garcia. Still, he’s not shown the same sense of urgency about letting Devin fight Teofimo Lopez, Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, and Vasily Lomachenko. It could be that Hearn realizes that Haney can’t beat any of those fighters, and that’s why he’s not pushing hard to make the fights.
The 35-year-old Linares could spoil things for Hearn if he beats Haney on May 29th. The hardcore boxing fans realize that Linares is faster and more powerful than Haney; they won’t be shocked if he beats him.