By Allan Fox: Devin Haney will be fighting on December 3rd on DAZN, possibly against Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz Jr. or Viktor Postol.
Haney’s promoter Eddie Hearn will try and put the fight together with former IBF super featherweight champion Diaz Jr. (32-1, 15 KOs), who needs an opponent after his battle with Ryan Garcia fell through. Ryan suffered a hand injury during training camp.
If Jojo Diaz chooses not to take an interim fight with Haney, he’ll need to wait until February 2022 to face Ryan, as he needs hand surgery for his injury.
According to ESPN, Jojo Diaz, 28, was going to get $1.5 million for the Ryan Garcia fight. Eddie Hearn has offered Jojo Diaz $1 million to face Haney.
That figure will likely need to be bumped up to near or at the same level that Diaz Jr would make for the fight with Ryan for the match with Haney to have a good chance of happening.
If Hearn can’t put together the fight with Diaz Jr., Haney will move up to 140 and possibly face former WBC champion Viktor Postol.
That might be a more challenging fight for Haney than Diaz because the lanky 5’11” Ukrainian fighter is one of the top fighters in the division.
Jojo Diaz is an excellent fighter, but he looked beatable in his grueling 12 round decision win over Javier Fortuna on July 9th.
“I think that JoJo would be my best opponent on paper so far,” said Haney to ESPN. “Main thing is making the fight happen.
“I think he’s a good fighter, but I’m on the whole another level. I hope he doesn’t price himself out. The new way of ducking these days,” said Haney.
Jojo Diaz Jr and Haney had a brief exchange on Twitter on Friday after Devin called out the Golden Boy fighter. Diaz Jr. says he wants to make the fight with Haney, and he’s asking to send the contract.
Haney, 22, needs a big name like Jojo Diaz to help further his career, which is going nowhere at the moment.
Despite being the WBC lightweight champion, Haney’s popularity is in stasis due to the lackluster opposition his promoters at Matchroom Boxing are pitting him against since he signed with them.
In recent fights, Haney’s beaten these guys:
- Jorge Linares – 35-years-old
- Yuriorkis Gamboa – 40
- Alfredo Santiago
- Zaur Abdullaev
- Antonio Moran
For Haney to increase his popularity, he needs Ryan Garcia, Jojo Diaz Jr, Vasily Lomachenko, Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, and Teofimo Lopez to fight him. Whether Haney can beat those fighters is unknown.
Contact @MTKGlobal let’s do it, actually send the contract this time, bitch https://t.co/tdJ2kMYISw
— Joseph Diaz (@JosephDiazJr) October 15, 2021
We saw Haney struggle against Linares in their fight on May 29th, and it wasn’t a good sign watching him get repeatedly hurt in the later rounds by the former three-division world champion.
“I’m willing to fight Devin Haney this year; everything has to make sense,” Diaz, 28, told ESPN. “I want the fight. I trust in my team, Golden Boy Promotions.”
Jojo Diaz Jr. might be too advanced for the 22-year-old Haney to be fighting at this point, as his last fight against Linares showed some severe warning signs.
“We definitely want to try and get Haney vs. Diaz made,” said Eddie Hearn to ESPN. “Hopefully, we can get it over the line now.”
Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn should take heed and view Haney’s struggles with Linares as an indication that he might not be ready to move beyond that level of opponent.
Haney would have lost that fight if Linares knew how to fight out of a clinch, and he allowed Haney to survive by clinching during the championship rounds.
Haney won’t get away with the same trick against Diaz Jr. or any other top lightweights and not against Postol.