Devin Haney gave his expert opinion on Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis’ ability this week, claiming that we haven’t seen him fight at an “elite level yet” during his eight-year professional career.
Indeed, IBF welterweight champion Boots Ennis (31-0, 28 KOs) hasn’t fought the murderer’s row of elite fighters yet, but Haney’s list of victims isn’t either.
Devin has only fought 36-year-old Vasily Lomachenko, who he appeared to outweigh by 15+ lbs on fight night, and he arguably lost to him. Other than that guy, Haney has a padded resume.
Devin’s decision not to give Lomachenko a rematch was a wimp move, and he ignored the dangerous fighters who could potentially beat him.
“I like Boots. We can say he got a good jab, but I’ve shown it on the elite level. We haven’t really seen Boots on the elite level yet,” said Devin Haney to the Million Dollaz Worth of Game YouTube channel about Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
Jealousy or Fear Factor?
Some would argue that Haney is jealous and threatened by the attention that the 26-year-old Boots Ennis is receiving in the boxing world with his recent signing with Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn.
That signing sucked a lot of the air out of the attention of Haney’s fight this Saturday night against Ryan Garcia, and the praise that Boots is getting from fans is far more than what Devin is getting.
Fans just see Haney as a light-hitting defensive artist who chooses his opponents carefully. He’s not seen as another Boots-type talent, and he’s not shown the same willingness to fight the best the way he does. Haney received a lot of criticism for fleeing the lightweight division when Shakur Stevenson became his mandatory and for failing to fight Subriel Matias.
A Questionable ‘Elite’ Status
Also, Haney chooses not to fight as a welterweight after talking about wanting to move up. Some fans believe this is because of Boots Ennis’ recent signing with Matchroom. If Haney moved up to 147, he would be expected to fight Boots because they would both be DAZN fighters.
The rest of the guys Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) has fought are either old or not; that’s good to begin with. Haney should be fighting Boots Ennis, not Ryan Garcia, this Saturday night becaue he’s as big as him, if not bigger. Then we could say that Boots Ennis has fought an elite-level fighter if you want to call Haney an “elite” guy.
