Eddie Hearn revealed last Saturday night that he wants to have a conversation with Gervonta Davis to offer him more than the $20 million that he supposedly rejected for a fight against Devin Haney. However, Hearn says Gervonta doesn’t want to speak to him.
Tank has made it clear that he would listen to any legitimate offers if the right number was mentioned and if the people making them were speaking to his manager, Al Haymon.
For obvious reasons, Gervonta will also likely want Haney to agree to a strict rehydration clause & catchweight as part of any deal because he’s not going to be fighting a light heavyweight weighing 170 lbs on the night.
Bill claimed last week that Tank (29-0, 27 KOs) had turned down a $20 million offer to fight Devin, but he doesn’t say who he made the offer to. Tank denied ever speaking with Bill, and he didn’t talk to his manager, Al Haymon.
Is this a make-believe offer?
So, will Hearn’s offer be the same type as Bill’s? If it’s imaginary won’t for hype purposes to raise Haney’s value in the boxing world for clout-chasing purposes, it’s a waste of time.
Haney can’t become a star by name-dropping or coming up with pretend offers. The reported 50K PPV buy totals for Haney’s fight against WBA light welterweight champion Regis Prograis on DAZN PPV on December 9th showed that he’s not in demand by the fans. If Haney is going to become a star, he’s got to do these things:
- Fight the killers: Subriel Matias, Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, Shakur Stevenson, Tim Tszyu, David Benavidez, David Morrell, Edwin De Los Santos, Teofimo Lopez, Jermall Charlo and Janibek Alimkhanuly
- Stop using the step-back style: Fight like Subriel Matias and Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez and become an entertaining pressure fighter. The way Haney fights now is non-fan-friendly, and people don’t want to watch runners, especially on PPV.
- Speak for yourself: Stop letting his dad, Bill, do all his talking for him.
- Don’t be a weight bully: Devin needs to fight in the weight category that is right for his body. The top guys like Tank aren’t going to want to fight him without a rehydration clause & catchweight because he’s not going to want to face a 170-lb Haney on the night. Would Haney be eager to fight someone who hydrated to 200 lbs and outweighed him by 30 lbs on the night of the fight?
“We’ve got some massive offers for Gervonta Davis, but if he doesn’t want the fight, there’s not a lot we can do,” said Eddie Hearn to Fight Hub TV about his having offers for Tank David to fight Devin Haney next.
“I want to make an offer of probably more than that, but unfortunately, they don’t want to have the conversation,” said Hearn when asked about the $20 million offer that Bill Haney claims was turned down by Tank Davis.
If Hearn wants to make a huge offer to Tank, he needs to contact Haney and speak with him; It’s not going to work if he’s shooting DMs to him, wanting only the conversation to be between the two of them. Does Hearn not want to speak with Tank’s management? If so, why not?
Haney has options at 147
“Not yet,” said Eddie on whether he sees the Tank vs. Haney fight happening. “Boxing is such a mad business where people listen to people. Devin, next year could fight Ryan Garcia, Teofimo Lopez, and Geronta Davis, and he would fight all of them. But someone wants $50 million. Someone wants $20 million.”
It’s very unlikely Haney will fight Tank or Teofimo in 2024 because those are impossible deals to make, especially with him stubbornly refusing a catchweight and rehydration clause.
Teofimo is no different than Tank Davis in that he’s not going to want to fight Haney, knowing that he could rehydrate to 165 to 170 lbs.
Ryan will probably agree to fight Haney because that guy seems like he’s on his way out the door and wants to get a big money fight or two before he walks away once fans no longer show interest in watching him lose against fighters he had no rightful business fighting in the first place.
“Just open up the books and let the fighters have the money, but they don’t want to do it like that. They want guarantees that don’t exist. Ryan Garcia, but I’m not so sure he’ll fight him next if he can’t get Rolly. I think he will,” said Hearn when asked who is the most likely opponent for Tank Davis next.
“If not, you might see Devin go up to 147 and fight [Mario] Barrios, Conor Benn, and then we’ll see what’s what. I saw it on social media, and Devin messaged me and said, ‘Give me Conor Benn. It sells out a stadium in the UK, so that would be a cool look for Devin to take that, but we’ll see.
“Ryan, Oscar, and all those guys are going to want an easier fight [than Haney], and that’s Rolly. If they can get Rolly, then they’re going to go with Rolly. If they can’t, then they might fight Devin, but let’s be honest. Who really wants to fight Devin Haney? That’s why these kinds of numbers of $20 million if that’s not going to dangle a carrot.”
What Hearn isn’t saying is why fighters don’t want to fight Haney. It’s not that he’s a great fighter. It’s that he’s a guy who is too big for the weight class that he competes in, and he uses the Shakur Stevenson type of fighting by pulling back. If you get close to Haney, he holds.
Can Haney sell on PPV?
‘That’s why everyone tries to put Devin Haney down. You this bull**** stuff from Leonard Ellerbe, saying that it [Haney vs. Regis Prograis] did 50,000 buys,” said Hearn. “That ain’t worth responding to, but they want to try and set a narrative to dress it up that Devin hasn’t got any value, that he doesn’t sell pay-per-views and doesn’t sell tickets.”
DAZN hasn’t come out to refute the PPV reports that are circulating around about the Haney-Prograis fight doing only 50K, and that’s pretty telling. When you look at that undercard for that event, it’s easy to believe those numbers because that was a poor card.
Haney was never a big PPV attraction, and he was fighting an old guy who wasn’t a pay-per-view attraction, either.
“Then all of a sudden, he sells out the Chase Center [in San Francisco], but then they say, ‘Yeah, but the tickets were only $60 up the top.’ Who gives a f***? “said Hearn. “You should be trying to embrace fights like that. Not trying to put yourself down and trying to talk yourself out of it. I’m disappointed that Gervonta didn’t want to talk about the fight.
“I’ve been around long enough to know that when people don’t like people, people say s*** about people, it makes it a lot harder to make the fight. Obviously, Bill [Haney], Calvin Ford, the trainer, Leonard [Ellerbe]. I’m just sitting back, thinking, ‘I can’t see this fight [Gervonta vs. Haney] getting made at all,” said Hearn.
