Devin Haney doubts Lomachenko will fight him on Dec.11th

By Boxing News - 08/04/2021 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: Devin Haney says it’s “cap‘ that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is considering him as one of the two options for Vasily Lomachenko to fight on December 11th in his next match.

As bad as Haney looked in his last fight against Jorge Linares, the last thing he needs right now is to fight Lomachenko.

Although Haney is a network free agent, he’s not considered to have any shot at getting a fight against the Top Rank-promoted former three-division world champion Lomachenko (15-2, 11 KOs) for his December 11th fight.

It’s widely believed that former IBF 135-lb champion Richard Commey (30-3, 27 KOs) will be the next opponent for Lomachenko when he headlines on ESPN on December 11th.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist Lomachenko is obviously unafraid of fighting Haney, but his promoters aren’t as interested in that fight.

It would be a good match-up for the boxing public, and it would set up a big fight between the winner to face Teofimo Lopez in early 2022.

Haney (26-0, 15 KOs) almost got stopped by Jorge Linares in his last fight on May 29th, and he was fortunate to finish.

Linares had Haney repeatedly hurt from the ninth round on, and if he weren’t such a terrible finisher, he’d be the new WBC lightweight champion.

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Haney wants Commey next

“They can say what they want to say, but they never say they want to fight,” said Haney to Behind the Gloves about him being criticized. “They can say a lot, but they never say they want to fight, ever.

“The guys that do say they want to fight, they need me more than I need them. They can say what they want to say, but I’m the only one here saying, ‘I want to fight these guys.’

“My dad reached out to [promoter] Lou DiBella to see if they [Richard Commey] were really interested in it. They say they haven’t received an official offer from Loma or anything, but they are entertaining a fight with Loma, and they said they would entertain a fight with me as well,” Haney said about Richard Commey.

“So they didn’t fully turn it down, but they did say that they wanted to fight. It doesn’t make sense to me because you would make more money, and you’d be fighting for a belt.

I would fight Richard Commey next. If his team wanted to do it, we could make it happen. I would fight Jo Jo Diaz next if his team wanted to make it happen. But in reality, these guys say a lot, but when it comes to action, I’d be the main one about the action,” said Haney.

Devin may want a fight with Richard Commey, but it’s not looking good now that he’ll get that match-up.

Top Rank clearly wants Commey for Lomachenko, and they’re going to make sure that fight happens on December 11th.

Devin blasts Jo Jo Diaz for calling out Ryan Garcia

“I’m going, to be honest, Javier Fortuna looked terrible, he looked like s***, he looked washed,” said Haney about Fortuna in his recent 12 round unanimous decision loss to Jo Jo Diaz Jr. in a WBC lightweight title eliminator on July 9th.

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“That [Fortuna] was a guy that they said I was ducking and didn’t want to fight. I tried to fight him way back in my ShoBox days, and when I came off my shoulder injury, I said, ‘I want to fight Javier Fortuna.’ Javier Fortuna didn’t bring much to the table in reality.

“Linares may have would have stopped him. Jo Jo Diaz, there’s not much to say about his performance because it wasn’t something special.

“What I said was, ‘You just fought for a mandatory position. Why are you bringing up Ryan Garcia?’” said Haney about Joseph Diaz Jr, who, after defeating Fortuna in their WBC-ordered 135-lb title eliminator, called out contender Ryan Garcia.

Haney doesn’t believe Ryan Garcia had mental problems

“Ryan Garcia was having mental health issues or whatever the case may be, which I don’t believe at this point because, during his time of having mental health issues, he was still talking about me on social media about how he would knock me out or some s*** like that.

“The guy that he got dropped by, Luke Campbell, Linares dropped him. How can you [Jo Jo Diaz Jr] be calling out Ryan Garcia when you just fought for the mandatory position for the [WBC] belt?” said Haney.

Joseph Diaz Jr. is going in the direction of the money fight and the one that’ll bring more attention to him by seeking a match against Ryan Garcia.

Image: Devin Haney doubts Lomachenko will fight him on Dec.11th

Haney is a good fighter, but he doesn’t have the same popularity that Ryan does. As you can see, Haney is bothered at seeing a second WBC mandatory challenger choosing to fight someone else rather than him. Unfortunately, that’s not because they’re afraid of Haney.

The 22-year-old Haney doesn’t bring anything to the table in terms of popularity, and that’s probably not going to change anytime soon.