By Adam Baskin: Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis says Devin Haney rehydrates a whopping 24 lbs to full middleweight for his fights at lightweight, giving him a tremendous size advantage over the 135-pounders in the division.
Undisputed lightweight champion Haney rehydrating to 159 lbs puts him right near the maximum 160-lb limit for the middleweight division, which doesn’t bode well for tiny Vasily Lomachenko, who looked positively dwarfed by him last week during their face-off on stage at their first press conference to begin promoting the May 20th fight.
“Dis no knuckles, pillow-fisted rehydrates 24 lbs, basically coming in as a middleweight and still can’t give his opponents a nose bleed,” said Gervonta Davis on social media about Haney.
While some boxing fans will have no problems with Haney (29-0, 15 KOs) rehydrating to middleweight, as long as he can make the 135 weigh-in limit for his fight against Lomachnko (17-2, 11 KOs), it’s troubling for others who see the unfairness of a fighter being that heavy for a smaller weight class.
Lomachenko reportedly rehydrates only several pounds for his fights at lightweight. Assuming that Loma rehydrates to 138 on the night of the fight while Haney rehydrates to 160, you can see the potential of a blowout for Devin. That would give Haney a 22-lb weight advantage on the night of the. That’s a TON of weight for a contest in the lightweight division, and it’s definitely worrisome.
Besides the unfairness of Haney rehydrating to middleweight, it’s also potentially dangerous for his opponents because they risk getting hurt. Boxing has to fix this kind of problem because some fighters, particularly younger ones, can rehydrate dramatic amounts of weight to allow them to fight in divisions well below their body size and use this advantage to win fights that they wouldn’t be able to do if they were to compete in a weight class more suited to their frames.
For example, what would be the result if Haney competed in the 154 or 160-lb division against fighters his size? Would Haney beat these similar-sized fighters:
- Jermell Charlo
- Janibek Alimkhanuly
- Tim Tszyu
- Sebastian Fundora
No doubt, Tank chose to leak Haney’s rehydrated weight to the public in retaliation for him saying he would never agree to a rehydration clause for a fight against him, as if this is a thing that Gervonta will continue to utilize in future fights after his mega-money bout against Ryan Garcia on April 22nd.