Devin Haney: ‘I didn’t get hurt; I beat him easy’

By Boxing News - 05/30/2021 - Comments

By Jeff Aronow: Devin Haney sounded like a fighter in a deep state of denial about what had happened to him by telling the crowd that he was never hurt during his 12-round contest against Jorge Linares last Saturday night.

Not only was Haney hurt in the fight by the heavy-handed former three-division world champion Linares (47-6, 29 Kos), but he was hurt repeatedly in rounds 10 through 12.

Devin exposed by Linares

Haney won the battle but lost the war with his stock plummeting from this performance. It will be hard for Haney to come back from this fight because Linares badly exposed him to be a guy with NO power and a WEAK chin.

The way Haney fought in the championship rounds, he looked like a fighter in distress, getting hunted down by the old lion Linares, who was clearly the better fighter in the last three rounds.

WBC lightweight champion Haney (26-0, 15 KOs) was hurt several times by big shots from challenger Linares (47-6, 29 KOs), forcing him to hug repeatedly in the last three rounds to keep from getting knocked out at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Linares guided a wobbly Haney to his corner at the end of the 10th round after hurting him with a powerful right hand to the head moments before.

Image: Devin Haney: 'I didn't get hurt; I beat him easy'

Devin booed by fans

In the 11th and 12th, Haney was no longer fighting and was just diving straight at Linares to hug him. Haney was in pure survival mode at that point, jumping straight at Linares to hold him nonstop to prevent him from finishing the job.

While this was going on, the crowd at the Michelob Ultra Arena were booing Haney loudly for the hugging that he was doing.

They clearly didn’t like Haney’s decision to hold repeatedly in rounds 10, 11, and 12. These were Haney’s own fans, who had turned against him due to the way he was waving the white flag of surrender.

They wanted Haney to go out on his shield by fighting courageously until the bitter end rather than seeing him reduced to the level of someone that was running out the clock by stalling the fight in the final three rounds instead of actively fighting.

Haney: “I Beat him easy”

“This is boxing. You’re going to get hit with big shots,” said Haney when interviewed after his fight with Linares. “It’s about continuing to box smart. I didn’t get dropped. I didn’t get hurt.

“We saw other fighters get dropped, and the world praised them. I get hit with a big shot, and they act like it was something. It was nothing. This is boxing. You’re going to get hit with big shots. I continued to hit him with big shots all throughout the fight.

Image: Devin Haney: 'I didn't get hurt; I beat him easy'

“Of course, I beat him easy,” said Haney when asked if he’d made a statement with his win over Linares.

” I want to make the biggest fights happen,” Devin said when asked about a potential unification between him and IBF/WBA/WBC Franchise/WBO lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez. “If Teofimo Lopez is next, let’s do it.

“Of course not,” said Haney when asked if Teofimo upset him this week with some of the comments he made in interviews about him.

“I stayed focused on Jorge Linares. And I knew he was a tough competitor. I focused on my game plan, and I went in there and got the job done.

“If Teofimo wants to get it next, let’s do it for all the belts for the real undisputed,” said Haney.

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