By Robert Segal: Devin Haney says he’s thinking about staying with Top Rank after his contract with them expires on Saturday night with his title defense against Vasyl Lomachenko.
Haney (29-0, 15 KOs) is pleased with how Top Rank has handled the promotion of his fight against Lomachenko (17-2, 11 KOs), building it into a really big one, and he says he’ll tell the media more after his fight.
If undisputed lightweight champion Haney wins, he’ll be a hugely marketable fighter and will likely be pursued by Matchroom Boxing, PBC, and Golden Boy Promotions. Staying with Top Rank would say a lot about the company and how they’ve promoted Haney.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says he’d like to match Haney against the winner of the June 10th fight between Josh Taylor and Teofimo Lopez if he’s ready to move up to light welterweight.
If Haney stays at lightweight, Arum would likely try and set up fights for him against Gervonta Davis and Shakur Stevenson.
“I like what Top Rank has done in their promotion, and everything that they’ve put into it has had a big buzz around it, and then we’ll see,” said Devin Haney to the media today when asked if he could re-sign with Top Rank after his contract expires with them on Saturday night in his fight against Vasyl Lomachenko.
“After I’m victorious, I can tell you more about it, but I’m happy with how Top Rank has been handling things,” Haney continued.
“Everybody has the right to their own opinion. I’m going to prove to the non-believers that have been picking me to lose; I’m going to prove them wrong.
“No, we’re prepared for the best Loma. We’ve watched his best performances when he was at his best. He was coming off of a war [before his last fight against Jamaine Ortiz]. So we don’t hold that one performance. We’ve been studying his best ones, and we’re prepared for whatever he brings to the table.
“We’ve been studying him. We know the things he does good and the things he does bad. We know his habits and what he likes and doesn’t like. We’re looking to exploit it.
“He’s a true champion, he’s battle-tested, and he’s going to show up to fight on Saturday night, and so am I.
“The weight has been a tremendous difference from this camp to last camp. Also, I’ve had my chef here for eight weeks. The last camp, I had him for four weeks. The first fight with Kambosos, I had him for six weeks. For this camp, I was able to bring him in early.
“The last fight, he was working with GGG. So, I only had him for four weeks. That was a big reason for why I looked dry on the scale. This training camp has been great, and I’ve been very disciplined. I’m prepared to make the weight healthy and coming strong on fight night.
“Everybody has a right to their own opinion. It is what it is,” said Haney when told that Gervonta Davis is picking Lomachenko to beat him. “I was somewhat picking Ryan [Garcia]. I was saying that it was going to be a closer right than what it was, and I was wrong.
“It’s about me going in there and proving all the doubters and nonbelievers wrong. It’s business. It’s a fight that I’ve been wanting for a long time, and now the time has finally come. I’m just going to take care of business,” said Haney.
