By Sam Volz: Trainer Bill Haney isn’t sure if he’ll let his son, undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney take the fight against Vasyl Lomachenko.
In an interview with Thaboxingvoice, Bill brought up how Haney (29-0, 15 KOs) looked at the weigh-in for his last fight against George Kambosos Jr on October 15th.
Bill says with the holidays approaching, Devin is going to want to eat, and that’ll put weight on him. In other words, it could be even more difficult for Haney to make weight for his next fight at 135, be it against Lomachenko or one of the other contenders.
From what Bill is saying, it sounds like Haney could vacate his four belts and move up to 140, where it’ll be easier for him to make weight. It’ll be convenient for Haney because he’ll not have to worry about fighting Lomachenko and possibly losing.
If Haney vacates, Paulie Malignaggi’s prediction about him ducking Lomachenko will have come true. The boxing public will see it as a duck, regardless of what Devin says about the move to 140 because of his weight.
The thing is, Haney’s chances for success at 140 are slim because he lacks power and gets hit too much. The fighters at light welterweight punch harder than the lightweights that Haney has been fighting, and we’ve already seen him get hurt by Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz and Jorge Linares.
If those kinds of guys are hurting Haney, you can only imagine what 140-pounders like Jose Zepeda, Regis Prograis, Jose Ramirez, and Teofimo Lopez will do to him. That’s just a small list.
There is a lot of other big fish in the 140-lb division that will feast on a non-puncher like Haney. It’ll literally be a feeding frenzy once Haney moves up in weight, and he and Bill will regret leaving the safety of the 135-lb weight class.
“You said we wouldn’t take the Lomachenko fight. You said that I’m scared to take it,” said Bill Haney to ThaBoxingVoice about him wanting Paulie Malignaggi to bet a hundred thousand on whether Devin will take the fight with Lomachenko.
“Devin has the undisputed title that something that Lomachenko has dreamed about. Devin isn’t making the decision right now in terms of his next move. I am making the decision.
“I didn’t say yay or nay. I’m still weighing the options. I’m still considering what Devin’s next move will be as a trainer. I’m looking at him and his weight. I’m looking at what we have to go through during the holidays and then weighing out what the next move will be,” said Bill about Haney’s next fight.
“You want me to bet a hundred thousand for taking a Lomachenko fight? Lomachenko will beat your son’s a**,” said Paulie Malignaggi. “Do you understand me? You want to bet 100,000 on him taking the fight? Bet 100,000 that your son wins the fight.
“Forget about taking the fight. Bet a hundred thousand on your son wins the fight. You got no balls to do that. You want me to bet that your son takes the fight. I’ll give your son credit for taking the fight. I was ready to give your son credit if he took the fight.
“I’m on the record that if he even takes the fight, I’ll give him a ton of respect. He shouldn’t even be after my respect. He should be doing what’s best for him.
“I would give your son credit for taking the fight. Even if he took an L, I would give him credit for it. I know he’s in the position not to have to take the fight. You know everybody wants the best fight in the weight class, which is Haney vs. Lomachenko.
“Do you take the Lomachenko fight, or don’t you take the Lomachenko fight? You have a lot of options. Honestly speaking, it’s an in-house type of personal decision.
“Ultimately, if this fight gets made, there’s a bigger part of boxing that’s interested in this fight because of what’s being discussed throughout this whole thing. I don’t think he can beat Lomachenko.
“It’s a lot easier to move up in weight as the undefeated, undisputed lightweight champion that vacated the titles than it is to move up in weight as the former undisputed champion with an L,” said Malignaggi.
