Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis’ trainer Calvin Ford believes Devin Haney will be moving up to 147 next to fight former Josh Taylor next, and not Keith Thurman, Terence Crawford or Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
There will be a huge backlash if Haney is matched up against the faded ex-undisputed 140-lb champion Taylor, but perhaps no greater than what we just witnessed with his fight with Regis Prograis last Saturday.
With the proper whitewash on why Taylor’s career has taken a nosedive, Eddie Hearn can varnish over how shot he’s appeared by giving the right excuses for how he’s looked since 2022.
The Scottish fighter Josh Taylor is moving up to 147 and showing signs of being over the hill in his last two fights against Teofimo Lopez and Jack Catterall. British fans would be over the moon at the idea of Taylor fighting Haney next, and it would sell on PPV to UK audiences.
Ford feels that the 32-year-old former undisputed light welterweight champion Taylor (19-1, 13 KOs) is an easy fight for Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn to make next for Haney (31-0, 15 KOs), who is coming off of a one-sided twelve round unanimous decision win over WBC 140-lb champion Regis Prograis last Saturday night.
Haney’s dad, Bill, isn’t going to throw him to the wolves at 147 in his first fight in the welterweight division by putting him in with anyone who has power and can still fight.
Ford thinks that the 34-year-old Prograis (29-2, 24 KOs) was carefully chosen by Haney’s management because they knew he wasn’t a threat to Devin.
Calvin doesn’t mention whether Prograis’ recent poor performance against Danielito Zorrilla last June was the reason why he was selected for Haney, but that would be a logical deduction to make.
Haney vs. Taylor = easy matchmaking
“Devin did his thing; he looked remarkable. Devin put on a great fight. The only thing I can say is he [Haney] hurt him [Regis Prograis], but he didn’t finish him. If y’all cannot mention Tank’s name for all of 2024, then y’all got me,” said Calvin Ford to MillCity Boxing, talking about Devin & his dad, Bill Haney, who both name-dropped Tank Davis’ name before & after last Saturday’s fight with Regis Prograis.
“Y’all going up to 147. Talking about who you’re going to fight at 147. Forget about 140, forget about 135, and forget about Tank,” Ford continued. “They said it in the ring, ‘We’re going up to 147.’
It’s hard to ignore the timing of that choice, considering that Prograis wasn’t selected after his impressive win over Jose Zepeda. They didn’t choose Teofimo Lopez or Subriel Matias after his recent victory.
Does that make Haney a cherry-picker like Floyd Mayweather Jr., the one that he’s arguably patterning himself after? That’s a big yes.
“I said, ‘Damn, who are they going to fight at 147?’ The only top dogs at 147 is Crawford and [Jaron] Boots [Ennis]. Thurman,” said Calvin. “I know you’re not going to jump up there, or you might fight [Mario] Barrios. Then I looked across the border, and I seen Josh Taylor. That’s who they’re going to go at. It’s easy to make.
“Then I said, ‘Dang, he couldn’t make 140 because he had to strip all the way down, and that tells me he’s a big boy if you have to strip down to 140, and you’re campaigning at 140. You shouldn’t have to strip down to 140.”
Haney’s father, Bill, and Hearn aren’t going to be in favor of putting him in with any of the quality welterweights in his first fight at 147, and perhaps never.
They wouldn’t put Haney in with someone like Terence Crawford or Errol Spence Jr. while either of them still has a few marbles rolling around in their heads. It would be too dangerous because Haney can’t punch, and he’s proven himself to be able to beat old guys and fighters that he had a big size advantage over.
“That’s the only person I can think of at 147. You’re talking about fighting at 147,” said Ford. “That’s the only fight that they can make easy because of my man Eddie Hearn. That’s the only fight that I know that he can convince to make that happen.
“So in 2024, you’ll probably see at 147 Josh Taylor and Haney if they’re not going to fight at 140 anymore. I’m not hearing anything more at 140. I’m hearing 147 [for Haney],” said Ford.
What a truly awful fight, Haney vs. Taylor would be at any weight. If Hearn is going to dig up another stiff for Haney to fight, couldn’t he do a better job than Taylor? How about Errol Spence or even the balding 35-year-old Thuman would be worlds better than Taylor.
Prograis was well-vetted by Team Haney
“Maybe in his next fight at 147, he might hurt somebody, but he can’t hurt somebody at 140. He just don’t know how to,” said Ford about Haney.
The main reason Haney can’t hurt anyone at 140 is because in the back of his mind, he’s already thinking about making a quick getaway after landing his punches.
He’s not thinking about staying in the pocket to risk getting hit back and getting hurt like he was in his fights with Vasily Lomachenko, Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz, and Jorge Linares. Haney doesn’t trust his chin, so he’s always thinking about getting the heck out of dodge after he unloads his light ordinance on his opponents.
“Regis didn’t have nothing for him, though. I was like, ‘Damn! How did he get where he got at? Is it that easy to get there?’ That was tailor-made for him [Haney],” said Calvin.
“Guys that gave him that fight back, he had problems with. When they picked him [Prograis] they already knew what he was bringing to the table. He just really showed y’all just now. If you looked at his previous fights, he never showed you anything different,” said Ford.
Of course, Team Haney knew what they were getting when they picked Prograis as Devin’s opponent. It’s not an accident that Prograis was picked out after his fight with Zorrilla.
Fans could connect the dots to clearly see that this was an example of matchmaking 101 for Team Haney. They saw a washed guy and likely said, ‘Let’s get this one. He looks harmless.’
“He got the punch. He reminds me of [Ricardo] Mayorga. That type of fighter. ‘Let’s get it, let’s fight.’ That’s what Regis was,” said Ford. “Them type of guys, but if they get in position, they get you. He couldn’t touch Devin because Devin was the better athlete. You could clearly see that.”
Ford is giving Prograis too much credit in comparing him to Mayorga, as he’s nowhere near as good as Ricardo. If it had been even a faded version of Mayorga in the ring last Saturday night, Haney would have been in deep, deep trouble.
Mayorga was fearless, had power, and could throw all kinds of angles. If Haney tried his clinching bit with Mayorga, he would have immediately regretted it.
“Eddie Hearn didn’t even mention Tank [after the fight last night between Prograis and Haney]. He knows he has control of [Ryan] Garcia. He’s pushing Garcia [for Haney]. He’s pushing Garcia and Haney. Devin’s dad is like, ‘I don’t know.’ He’s smart,” said Ford.
Let’s face it, Hearn didn’t even try and hide his enthusiasm towards making a fight between Haney & Ryan Garcia next, talking up the idea for a good portion of his time at the mic at the post-fight press conference last Saturday night. Interestingly, Hearn didn’t even mention Gervonta’s name as a possible option for Devin’s next fight in 2024.
