By Allan Fox: Devin Haney’s dad Bill says he believes Shakur Stevenson’s call out of his son last Saturday night was nothing but a “publicity stunt” on his part.
The way that Bill was talking in an interview with Thaboxingvoice, he sounded like a politician running for office, speaking out of both sides of his mouth, and failing to address the call out by Shakur.
Bill doesn’t say why Shakur would call out Haney for clout purposes, given that his fight against Shuichiro Yoshino (16-1, 12 KOs) was an official WBC lightweight title eliminator to force Devin to face him.
Last Saturday night, Shakur (20-0, 10 KOs) called out undisputed lightweight champion Haney following his sixth-round knockout win over Yoshino (16-1, 12 KOs) in an ESPN-televised fight at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
After the fight, Shakur said that Haney (29-0, 15 KOs) is “crazy talking” about staying at 135 to fight him and that he would “smoke” him.
Shakur’s promoter needs to make the move
“We don’t make statements and then go hide somewhere. You can say that s**t inside the ring, but when are you going to talk to the people that you need to call?” said Bill Haney to Thaboxingvoice about Shakur Stevenson needing to call Haney’s management to set up a fight.
“This s**t happened the last time, and nothing happened. I went and talked to [Shakur Stevenson’s promoter] Bob Arum, and Bob Arum ain’t said no s**t. I ain’t got no call from nobody. So what happens next?
“I knocked on Bob Arum’s door and I said, ‘What’s happening? Where’s the money?’ So you can’t just come out and say it. You said that the last time. You said the mother f***ker is talking crazy.
“Well, I thought the mother f***ker was talking crazy when he had all the belts and said the division is on lock.
“Listen, I already asked. I asked him already,” said Bill when asked if he believes Arum will revisit trying to make a fight between Haney and Shakur after Devin’s May 20th fight against Vasily Lomachenko.
“The earth is our turf, we don’t fear nothing,” said Bill when asked when & where he’d like for the Haney vs. Stevenson fight to take place. “So that part of it, I leave it up to Devin and whoever is promoting the fight to find the best venue and the best location to make it happen.
Stevenson’s call out a “publicity stunt”
“I didn’t hear all this when Ryan said he was next. I didn’t hear all this when Tank said he was next. I hear a lot of it when they say Shakur said it was next.
“But like I said in the business, you’ve got to make the phone calls that you need to make and people need to say what they need to say. Other than that, I just think it’s a publicity stunt,” said Bill about Shakur’s call out of Haney last Saturday night.
“We love the position we’re in because it means there are great fights on the horizon. That’s the position we want to be in. Like I said, we’re available. I’m the one that said something to Bob. I know that. I said it. Bob said there was nothing on the table.
“Then Bob said something about 140 and offered Josh Taylor and Teofimo Lopez. So I’ve heard what Bob has said in public, but privately, he hasn’t said about Shakur nothing.
“The money would come from ESPN. We would need to know the money that would be on the table, and then you know what the split is. Then us not being with Top Rank, then we would be able to go to another network and get the money and then put the offer on the table for Shakur.
“How can we put the money on the table for Shakur when Bob is the one getting the money from ESPN? Listen, go get the money from Eddie, go get the money from DAZN, and go get the money from PBC.
“Absolutely; you’re then able to go and make the offer to Bob Arum, Top Rank, and Shakur. Right now, you’re saying come over to Top Rank because Top Rank would pay for the fight and that ESPN would pay for the fight.
“Now you’re saying go get the money from somewhere else for him. Let us finish this fight [Lomachenko]. You got to see what the money is and for all intents and purposes, we’ve always followed the rules,” said Bill when asked if he would be willing to give Shakur Stevenson a better split than what the normal WBC mandatory receives with a 70-30 split.
“We’ve done everything to be in this position, so we got to wait and see what it is. Listen, I told you all that it was a publicity stunt because nothing happened after that. He talked on the Internet and said something and said something before and he’s saying something now and there’s nothing happening,” said Bill Haney about Shakur Stevenson.
“You said would you be willing to take less. Well, what happened to the last opponent? What happened to them? If he’s serious, don’t just talk in the media. Put your team together and have them do what they need to do just like I said before.
“Talk about what’s on the table and that you want the fight behind the scenes as well as you want it upfront. I said I asked Bob. I said what’s happening with the four fighters. What’s on the table?
“All those guys are the same to me,” said Bill when asked if the Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis vs. Ryan Garcia winner is his priority for his son Devin to fight next if he wins his May 20th fight against Lomachenko.
“All of them are the same to me. We take it as it comes. Each one of them has said that they want to fight Devin. I said behind the scenes, nobody is talking.
“That was the one thing they said when he said he was putting the division on notice,” said Bill Haney when asked about his thoughts on Shakur’s victory over Yoshino last Saturday.
“He put on a great performance against a guy that he was supposed to do that. I didn’t expect anything left from him having a great performance, but the guy did what he was supposed to do.
“Do you believe that Devin has never got the better of Shakur and that Shakur has always got the better of Devin. If Shakur is lying about that, is he lying about everything else or is he just selective in his lies?” said Bill Haney in asking a poll about whether Shakur got the better of Devin every time in sparring rather than answering the question.
