By Jeff Aronow: Eddie Hearn says Devin Haney hasn’t re-inked with DAZN, and he’s now planning on being a network-free agent to prevent any obstacles for him getting fights against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Teofimo Lopez.
Hearn says WBC 135lb champion Haney (26-0, 15 KOs) wants “no excuses” for why he can’t get a fight against Teofimo and Tank. Haney, 22, is still with Matchroom, and Hearn is planning his next fight.
Unless Ryan Garcia suddenly shows interest in facing Haney, Hearn says he’ll fight the winner of this Friday’s WBC title eliminator between Javier Fortuna and Joseph ‘Jo Jo’ Diaz Jr.
Hearn wants Haney to get his mandatory defense out of the way if Gervonta, Teofimo, or Ryan Garcia aren’t interested in facing him.
Haney is a network free agent
“The same with Canelo,” said Eddie Hearn to Boxing Social about Devin Haney being a network-free agent. “Devin Haney has made it clear where he wants to be, which is with us, and we’re planning his next fight right now.
“There’s a mandatory fight coming up between Jo Jo Diaz and Fortuna this Friday. If we can’t get Ryan Garcia or Teofimo Lopez, then we’ll probably fight the winner of that fight, probably in October or October.
“Devin is another one like Canelo where I said to him, ‘Let’s just keep ourselves floating because if Gervonta Davis wants to fight Devin Haney, I can make that fight right now.
“If Teofimo Lopez wants to fight Devin Haney on ESPN, we can make that right now. I don’t want politics to get in the way of me giving Devin Haney the fight that he needs right now to break out to become a mega-star.
“He’s in a great spot. He’s got the security of DAZN, while at the same time has the freedom right now to move to the big fights that he wants to. I like that because then there’s no excuse.
“Again, I go back to the Canelo-Plant fight,” Hearn continued. “There are no excuses for why that fight can’t be made because we can do it on FOX. We can make an offer to Plant to do it on DAZN,” said Hearn.
It might not matter that Haney is a network-free agent. Teofimo has his two fights planned out already against George Kambosos Jr and Vasily Lomachenko.
Regardless of what happens in those fights, Teofimo will be moving up to 140. While Teofimo’s promoter Bob Arum doesn’t seem excited about the idea of trying to set up a fight with Haney.
Teofimo might be just mentioning Haney’s name for clout to help build up interest in his fight with Kambosos Jr to bring in the buys on Triller pay-per-view.
Given how little interest there is from boxing fans in this fight, Teofimo will need all the help he can get to interest fans in purchasing it.
As for Gervonta Davis, his promoter Floyd Mayweather Jr says he’s only going to match him against PBC and Mayweather Promotions fighters.
It probably wouldn’t be a good idea for Hearn to hold out hope that Mayweather changes his mind about that because he seems steadfast in his unwillingness to let Tank fight outside of those two companies.
Hearn wants Haney vs. Ryan Garcia fight
“Ryan Garcia is a huge star, and he has a massive following. He has a great win over Luke Campbell last time out,” said Hearn about wanting to match Haney against Garcia.
“Look, Ryan Garcia against any of those names we mentioned is a massive fight, but there we had a fight where not only where Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney part of the same platform [DAZN], Ryan Garcia was also [the WBC] mandatory.
Ryan Garcia won a final eliminator against Luke Campbell to fight Devin Haney. That was one thing that baffled me because Ryan said, ‘I don’t want Devin Haney fight.
“I want a bigger fight.’ But that is a big fight, and after Devin Haney’s win over Linares, that’s huge. He said, ‘Go out and beat Linares, and then we’ll see.’
“That’s a fight [Ryan Garcia vs. Haney] is a fight I think we need to push and make. I know that Ryan Garcia also wants a Tank Davis fight.
“That’s a tremendous fight. Look, if those fights get made, you can’t moan. It’s always baffled me why Ryan Garcia won’t fight Devin Haney because that is a really big fight.
“Hopefully, Ryan can get better and get back in camp, get back in the ring because he’s a tremendous asset to the sport,” said Hearn.
With Ryan Garcia’s recent mental health woes, he’s not likely to agree to take a risky fight with Haney for a long time. Golden Boy Promotions want to put him in with Tank, which is a win-win type of fight. The money would be so good that it won’t matter if Ryan loses.
You can’t say that same for a fight between Ryan and Haney. That’s a contest that won’t make nearly the same kind of money as a Gervonta vs. Ryan Garcia match.