Eddie Hearn says Devin Haney open to Gervonta Davis fight on Dec.5th

By Boxing News - 10/31/2021 - Comments

By Charles Brun: Eddie Hearn says Devin Haney told him that he’s willing to jump in with Gervonta  ‘Tank’ Davis on December 5th as his replacement for Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Hearn had been hoping to have Haney (26-0, 15 KOs) defend his WBC lightweight title against Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz Jr. (32-1-1, 15 KOs) on December 4th,  but the American hasn’t signed the contract despite his pay being bumped up higher than what he would have gotten to fight Ryan Garcia in their previously scheduled November 27th fight.

It would seem highly unlikely that Hearn would feed the 22-year-old Haney to Tank Davis (25-0, 24 KOs) for him to fight on SHOWTIME PPV on December 5th, particularly after the way Devin looked in his last fight against Jorge Linares.

Haney was repeatedly hurt by Linares in the championship rounds last May and was forced to clinch nonstop from nine through twelve to keep from getting knocked out.

It’s likely that Hearn is using Tank Davis as a way to pressure Jojo Diaz Jr to sign the contract for the Haney fight.

The idea is, if Jojo sees that Haney is throwing his hat in the ring as a potential replacement opponent for Gervonta on December 5th, he’ll quickly come to the table and sign the contract.

Image: Eddie Hearn says Devin Haney open to Gervonta Davis fight on Dec.5th

Haney willing to fight Gervonta

“I don’t know anything about the situation but I spoke with Devin Haney and I said, ‘Are you happy to put your name in the mix?’ And he said, ‘Yeah,’ because at the moment ‘No-Go Diaz’ has not signed his contract after being offered more to fight Devin Haney than he was getting to fight Ryan Garcia, so we’ll have to see what happens,” said Eddie Hearn to Boxing Social about Haney being willing to fight Gervonta Davis on December 5th.

“We want to make the Jojo Diaz fight, but he has to hurry up and sign the contract.

“We need to make statement fights in the U.S market for Devin Haney, and our preference is Jojo Diaz. It’s five weeks tonight,” said Hearn when asked if there’s a deadline for Jojo Diaz to sign the contract for the December 4th fight with Haney.

“They’re all training for that date, even Jojo. He was supposed to be fighting on November 27th [against Ryan Garcia], so he’s ready. But at some point, we need to go on sale. On December the 4th at the MGM Grand,” said Hearn.

It would be a really bad idea for Haney to fight Tank Davis in December because he’s not ready for that type of opponent.

Haney needs more experience before fighting a killer like Tank because he would be food for him, and it could wreck his career.

It’s one thing for Hearn to be giving the green light to Anthony Joshua to fight an immediate rematch with Oleksandr Usyk after losing to him last December, but it would be foolish for him to let Haney fight an experienced fighter like Tank Davis.

That’s why it’s doubtful that Hearn is serious about Haney potentially taking the fight with Tank. He knows what would happen to Haney if he stepped in there with Gervona, and it would be bad for him and his career.

YouTube video