Keith Thurman trashed Devin Haney today, labeling him a “scared fighter” who lacks “tenacity” and saying he’d probably fall asleep the next time he watches him fight.
Thurman says that if Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) moves up to 147, he’ll never be able to run over welterweights because he lacks the power and courage.
Devin can’t punch, and we saw that in his fight against WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis last December. Even with Haney rehydrating to 165 lbs, he still couldn’t generate any power.
Some believe Haney has copied Shakur Stevenson’s step-back and run fighting style and will use it for the remainder of his career after having success with it against 35-year-old Prograis.
Haney’s Boxing Style Under Fire
“They don’t have no reason jumping up fighting Rougarou [Regis Prograis] with Rougarou feet [slow]. You fought some Rougarous-foot dude, and now you want to fight all these welterweights. You want to do this and that,” said Keith Thurman to the media, talking about Devin Haney.
Devin and his dad, Bill Haney, are making a big deal out of the win over Prograis and will likely use it to negotiate favorable terms for a fight against Ryan Garcia.
Haney isn’t going to move up to welterweight because fans would pressure him to fight Jaron Boots Ennis. It was thought that Haney if he did up to 147, would face Thurman. That doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. Thurman hasn’t heard anything from Haney.
“Just take your time and continue to grow your career. If it ever lines up, it lines up. You don’t hurt nobody,” said Thurman, continuing to talk about Haney. “What is that man going to do? ‘He’s getting stronger. He gets to eat more.’ You’re still not that. You’re not that thump.”
Haney’s knockdown against Prograis in the third round was of the flash variety. He wasn’t hurt, and Haney didn’t follow up to try to knock him out.
“It was a beautiful shot, a nice little shot [that knocked Prograis down in round three last December], but you’ll never have the capacity to run over welterweights. He doesn’t even fight with those kinds of [courage],” said Thurman.
“He’s the definition of boxing. ‘Hit and don’t get hit.’ There’s nothing wrong with that,” said Thuman about Haney. “Besides, I’m probably going to fall asleep next time I try to watch that stuff,” said Thurman, making it clear that he thinks Haney is a boring fighter.”
Haney can’t fight any other way than the way he does because he lacks power and would get hurt. Several years ago, when Haney was slugging with his opponents, he was getting hurt in fights against Jorge Linares and Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz. He’s now abandoned that style of fighting and has seemingly patterned himself after Shakur.
“He [Bill Haney] loves his son. ‘Devin Haney is greater than Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali and Leila Ali.’ When have you not heard that man hype his son up? There’s nothing wrong with that. If he [Haney] had the real tenacity, he would have stopped Rigourou.
Scared Fighter Label: A Bold Claim
“That corner was looking at the dude. The dude was embarrassed if you ask me,” said Thurman. “You were getting fully outclassed, if you ask me. His team felt so bad. ‘Come on, man. You got to do something.”
Haney fights scared now because he’s using the Shakur style, which indicates fear.
“He didn’t have the skill set to match a caliber of a fighter like Devin Haney. If Devin Haney had the courage and the tenacity to take risks, We classify fighters in different ways. The way you can classify Haney is slightly in the category of a scared fighter, and that’s why there’s no courage,” said Thurman.
