By Allan Fox: Eddie Hearn rates Devin Haney’s career resume ahead of former three-division world champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, who some see as the actual ‘Face of Boxing’ due to his popularity.
Hearn feels that the 28-year-old Baltimore native Tank Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) doesn’t quite have as good a resume as the younger 24-year-old Haney, and it’s hard to disagree with him.
The truth is, Haney’s resume is almost as poor as Tank Davis’s, but it’s not quite as awful. It’s definitely not good, especially with his recent controversial win over Vasily Lomachenko last May, a fight in which practically the whole world saw Devin being given a gift decision.
Tank Davis’ best wins:
Isaac Cruz – fringe-level fighter
Ryan Garcia – Unproven Instagram fighter
Mario Barrios – secondary WBA 140-lb champion
Leo Santa Cruz – Former 118-pounder
Jose Pedraza – old & past it
Careful matchmaking
This is the new era of boxing in which wily promoters match their fighters against stewbums to build an unbeaten resume and then stick them on PPV to make money. It’s all about bringing in the dough.
Tank’s handlers at Mayweather Promotions & PBC have been cautious with how they’ve matched him, opting for non-risky opposition that wasn’t a threat to defeating him while ignoring guys that could mar his perfect record.
The fans of Tank argue that his management are being clever by letting the big fights marginate using the Mayweather-esque formula of letting these match-ups stew for five to six years before finally making them happen.
Gervonta is now a ten-year pro, fast approaching 30 years old, and he still hasn’t fought anyone of real quality. It’s become a kind of a joke, and some feel that Showtime’s decision to exit broadcasting boxing events on their network is a result of the non-competitive match-ups by Tank Davis as well as many of the other PBC fighters.
There’s nothing wrong with Gervonta Davis fighting those guys if he used them as stay-busy fights because none of them are high-quality.
Tank Davis should have fought these fighters:
Vasily Lomachenko
Devin Haney
Shakur Stevenson
Keyshawn Davis
Teofimo Lopez
Frank Martin
William Zepeda
Subriel Matias
Gary Antuanne Russell
Why hasn’t Mayweather Promotions matched Gervonta against those types of fighters? The reason is apparent. Tank would have lost to some of those guys, perhaps even half, and he wouldn’t be bringing in the money he is now on PPV.
Devin Haney’s best wins
Vasily Lomachenko – *controversial
George Kambosos Jr
Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz
Jorge Linares – *36-years-old
Yuriorkis Gamboa – *40-years-old
If you take away the controversial win over the 35-year-old, much smaller Lomachenko, Haney hasn’t beaten anyone either. He should have fought much better opposition to prove himself, but again, it’s all about careful match-making to build a mirage.
Fighters Haney should have fought:
Shakur Stevenson
William Zepeda
Edwin De Los Santos
Keyshawn Davis
Frank Martin
Gervonta Davis
Teofimo Lopez
Raymond Muratalla
Haney has fought better opposition
“If you’re looking at wins, then it’s definitely between Devin Haney and Tank,” said Eddie Hearn to the media, comparing Haney to Gervonta Davis. “If you’re talking about ability, they’re all unbelievably talented, and you have to throw Shakur [Stevenson], but he hasn’t beaten anyone yet.
“I know the win [by Stevenson] over [Oscar] Valdez at super featherweight was a big win, but at lightweight, he hasn’t beaten anybody yet, and that’s not his fault. I do believe he’ll go on and be a great.”
I don’t know if you can accurately predict that Shakur Stevenson will become “great” during his career because his fighting style is even more dull than Mayweather’s, and he hasn’t beaten anyone. Oscar Valdez was washed up, and the other guys he’s beaten were nothing special.
The fact that Shakur has won two division world titles is more a product of match-making and those weight classes [126 & 130] being weak. Shakur is so boring to watch, bringing out the worst elements of Floyd Mayweather Jr’s old safety-first fighting style.
“Right now, if you’re looking at resumes and coming off the wins over Lomachenko and Kambosos, you have to say Devin, but Tank also has a great resume,” Hearn continued.
George Kambosos Jr. was arguably a flawed paper champion, and the only reason held titles was because he beat an injured, weight-drained, ring-rusty Teofimo Lopez, whom he exposed as mentally weak.
“Tank has had some great wins as well, but he’s fluctuated between the weights,” said Hearn. “[Former Gervonta opponent Leo] Santa Cruz is a 126-pounder going up to 135 [to face Tank]. He also beat [former WBA light welterweight champion Mario] Barrios. He’s not a pound-for-pound guy, but he’s really a 147 fighter now.
“He’s [Tank Davis] has had some good wins and Devin as well, but I don’t think it’s a comparison. I think if Devin beats Prograis, then you’re talking about another level of moving up weight classes and beating the top guy at 140 or arguably the top guy at 140 and a guy that has power as well,” said Hearn about Haney moving up from 135 to challenge Prograis for his WBC light welterweight title on December 9th.
If Haney beats the 35-year-old Prograis, it won’t prove anything because he’s chosen one of the weakest of champions at 140, and he should have lost his last fight to Danielito Zorrilla.
To prove something, Haney would need to beat IBF light welterweight champion Subriel Matias because he’s easily the best of the belt-holders at 140. Teofimo is just a basketcase, and Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero is a paper champion.
“If you look at Kambosos and you look at Lomachenko. Neither guy has destructive power like Regis Prograis does, and I think that’s what makes this fight intriguing,” said Hearn.
“If he wins this fight, he’ll stay at 140 to try and become a two-time undisputed champion,” said Hearn about Haney.
“I saw a bit of a superstar. I like the smile,” said Hearn when asked what he saw in Haney that made him want to sign him to his Matchroom Boxing stable.
“What I saw in Devin was a guy that was completely dedicated to his craft, and as a promoter, I like working with people like that because you know you’re going to get the most out of what you got,” said Hearn.
