By Allan Fox: Bill Haney says he views Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis facing Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero in December as a positive sign for a future fight between his son Devin and Tank.
With Gervonta (25-0, 24 KOs) potentially fighting at 140 or 147 soon, Bill states that 22-year-old Devin Haney (26-0, 15 KOs) won’t be moving up to those weight classes to try and fight him.
If Tank vs. Haney fight is to happen in the near term, it’ll need to be at 135, the division where Devin holds his WBC title. There’s not enough fan interest in a fight between Gervonta and Haney for it to be worthwhile for Tank to come back down to 135.
As a professional, Haney has fought no one other than Jorge Linares and Yuriorkis Gamboa; he didn’t shine in either fight.
At this point in the 26-year-old Tank Davis’ career, it’s questionable whether he is motivated to continue competing in the lightweight weight class.
Tank’s last fight was at 140 against secondary WBA light welterweight champion Mario Barrios on June 26th, and there’s money for him to make in that weight class or at 147 against the faded ex-champion Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman.
Tank’s next fight will be against fellow Mayweather Promotions fighter Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero (14-0, 12 KOs) in December on Showtime pay-per-view.
Devin Haney WON’T go to 140 or 147
“I’m hopeful; that’s the way I look at it as being a positive sign,” said Bill Haney to Fighthype when asked if he would like to see a fight between Devin and Tank Davis one day put together with Mayweather Promotions.
“First things first, Rolly Romero obviously [is next for Gervonta]. Tank Davis is at 140 pounds, and they’re talking [Gervonta] about even fighting at 147 [aginst Keith Thurman],” Bill Haney continued.
“So the thing that brought us [Tank Davis and Haney] together or made us cross paths actually is being in the same weight class.
“So with him [Tank Davis] being at 140 and 147, I know it’s not a fight that, we’re [Devin Haney] not looking to go to 140 for our next fight. We’re looking to defend the WBC world title,” said Bill about Haney’s immediate plans.
So there it is. Haney won’t be moving up to 140 to take on Gervonta, and instead, he’ll be defending his WBC lightweight belt.
It’s not surprising, considering how Devin looked in his last fight against 35-year-old Jorge Linares on May 29th. Linares could have knocked Haney out if he had enough sense to fight through the clinches and continue to batter him when he was holding on.
Linares had Haney badly hurt in the championship rounds, forcing him to clinch continuously from the 9th through 12th rounds.
Haney’s promoter Eddie Hearn is currently looking for an opponent for him to face in December. Unfortunately, it’s not likely to be a big name for Haney’s next fight, but maybe that’s a good thing.
Haney doesn’t look ready to fight anyone of quality after his last performance. These fighters would be good options for Haney:
- Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz
- Masayoshi Nakatani
- Javier Fortuna
Hearn isn’t going to put Haney in with anyone that could potentially beat him like Vasily Lomachenko because he wants to build him up.
Haney = wrong style match-up for Tank
“Tank has always been the most dangerous fighter of those possible future opponents for Devin,” said Bill.” Please make no mistake about it; I didn’t need to see him [Gervonta] against Mario Barrios for me to know that.
“I just know that stylistically, Devin presents some problems for Tank just like Tank presents a great deal of dangerous power for Devin as well,” said Bill Haney.
