Gervonta Davis’ trainer, Calvin Ford, says Bill Haney needs to stop mentioning Tank’s name 24/7 and focus on his son, Devin because he’s trying too hard to talk his way into a fight.
Ford doesn’t like how Bill seems like he’s more dialed into talking about Tank than he is about his son, and he sees that as confusing. Doesn’t Bill Haney rate his own son Devin enough to keep the attention on him rather than Gervonta?
Calvin states that Devin Haney is at the top of his game after his recent victory over the “tailor-made” WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis last Saturday, and they just need to “keep doing what you’re doing.” The fight with Tank Davis will “happen one day.”
Ford wants Haney to keep winning, building up his name, and eventually, Tank will bless him with a fight to where they’ll both make a lot of loot.
Bill Haney mentioning Tank’s name too often
Ford is skeptical about the possibility of the 25-year-old Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) returning to the 135-lb division to fight Gervonta, because he notes that Devin had to strip down at the weigh-in to make 140 last Friday for his fight with Prograis.
If Haney is barely making it at 140, he will surely not be able to return to the 135-lb division for a fight against Tank Davis, which seems to be the only way that fights will happen.
Calvin points out that Tank’s frame is small, and that’s really a 126-pounder, who moved up to 135. Moving up to 140 or 147 to fight a still-growing Haney, who could soon be struggling to make even 147, it seems unlikely.
If you look at how big Devin’s dad, Bill, is, it suggests that he would wind up at 160 pounds in a few years, fighting middleweights. Bill is a big guy, and that would seem to be Devin’s destiny for growth. Although Devin looks nothing like Bill, he’s likely heading towards that kind of size.
“He won’t do that. That’s two different skill levels of fighters, but it would be interesting. That’s doing something great,” said Calvin Ford to ESNEWS when asked about the idea of Devin Haney moving up to 147 to fight Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
Calvin is right. Haney will NEVER fight Boots Ennis in this lifetime because he obviously knows what the end results of an encounter like that would be like.
That would be an utter disaster for Haney, and it wouldn’t be pretty. When Haney does go up to 147, it’ll be to take on a soft job like Mario Barrios or the old toothless lion, Keith Thurman, rather than to face Boots Ennis and the living daylights beaten out of him.
“Listen, if I can get $100 every time he mentions my name or Tank’s name, I’ll be a billionaire,” said Calvin about Devin’s dad, Bill Haney, who was name-dropping Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis’ name throughout the promotion for Haney’s fight against Regis Prograis, and then repeatedly called him out after the contest, saying “Tank, Tank, and Tank.”
“Right now, your son [Devin] is at the top of his game. Mention your son’s name. If that’s going to give you the egos to make you think you can win the fight or talk your way into the fight. That fight is going to happen one day. Just keep doing what you’re doing,” said Ford about the Tank vs. Haney mega-bout happening at some point in the future.
You can see here that Calvin Ford is officially sick of Bill Haney’s fixation on Tank Davis, and he wants him to have pride in his son’s achievements, such as they are against a slow, old “tailor-made” Prograis.
“My concern is if that fight happens, where is it going to be at, how much money is involved, and what is the weight going to be at? That’s it. Them are the three things that you have to iron out. I’m not going to pay you and put you on if you’re being disrespectful,” said Calvin on the need for Haney & Bill to hold off on trash-talking Tank if they want to fight him.”
Why will Devin fight at 147?
“He’s [Haney] talking about going to 147. I thought Devin was going to stay at 140 and rule 140, because there are some big fights at 40. They’re talking about going to 147. I’m scratching my head, ‘Who are they [Haney] going to fight at 147?’ The only top guys at 147 are Crawford and [Boots Ennis],” said Ford.
“Is it going to generate any money?” said Ford about Haney going up to 147 and potentially fighting British fighter Josh Taylor. “They’ll go over and do that [fight Taylor in the UK but not in the U.S]. Again, it won’t generate over here, but it will over there.”
You can’t put it past Haney fighting former undisputed light welterweight champion Josh Taylor next if he moves up to 147 because Eddie Hearn, a UK guy, promotes him. That would be right up Hearn’s alley to stick Haney in with Taylor and stage it in the UK, thinking it will draw.
It might bring in fans over there, but the U.S. boxing fans wouldn’t want to watch that train wreck, especially if it’s put on DAZN PPV. Taylor is washed at this stage of his career and should be focusing on the Jack Catteralls of the world.
“Will they [Team Haney] take that chance to keep their stock where it’s at, especially because they worked so hard to get where they’re at?” said Ford.
“He didn’t say that,” said Ford when told that Haney would come back down to 135 to fight Tank Davis. “I watched the weigh-in [for the Regis Prograis fight]. He [Haney] had to strip down to fight at 140.
“So, that indicates to me that he will NOT come down to 135 unless he was getting some Godzilla money to do it. Can he do it? I don’t know.”
You can’t put it past Haney to return to 135 for a fight with Tank Davis if he’s offered the kind of money that Ryan Garcia got. If PBC or DAZN offers Haney a guaranteed $30 million to battle Gervonta at 135, he’ll do it in a hot second.
Tank likely would want a rehydration clause to be part of that deal to prevent the 25-year-old Haney from rehydrating to the mid-150s or 160.
When a fighter is young like Devin, they can drain down huge amounts of weight and then rehydrate 20+ lbs to crush their opponents with size on the night of the fight, which you can argue is what Haney has been doing the past few years at lightweight, including in his bout last weened against Prograis.
“All the horseman went up to 140. The only ones left are Shakur, Pitbull, and Tank. You can mention the guy Spence got [Frank Martin], but he only fought one kid,” said Ford.
“You got to look at the frame. Tank was really at 126 fighter. He started off at 126.
“That fight can happen, but it won’t happen, because it’s two sides of the fence [different networks & promotional companies],” said Ford on Haney fighting Mario Barrios at welterweight.
“Barrios is in a good position. Haney has got the [WBC] belt at 140. They’re not generating that type of money for that fight.
The desperation that Bill is showing towards trying to get the Tank fight for Devin suggests that he’s worried that his son will soon lose and the bottom will drop out of his career before he’s gotten the big money from a Gervonta clash.
