Devin Haney told promoter Eddie Hearn that he won’t be vacating his WBC light welterweight title if he’s victorious against Ryan Garcia on April 20th. Haney says he wants “all the smoke” at 140, meaning that he’s going to pursue his goal of becoming undisputed champion.
Sandor Martin Next For Haney
Hearn said in an interview earlier today that he expects Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) to vacate his WBC title and hopes for #2 Richardson Hitchins to fight #1 Sandor Martin for the vacant belt.
“I told Eddie [Hearn] I’m not vacating nothing.. I want all da 💨” said Devin Haney on X.
Eddie believes Haney won’t want to take the small money he would get for a title defense against Sandor.
It would drop off in pay for Haney from the money he’s making against Ryan Garcia on April 20th and what he got in his past fights against Regis Prograis and Vasily Lomachenko. Haney could be shocked when he learns how little the Sandor fight will pay.
Hearn says Sandor Martin was paid a step aside so that Haney could defend against Ryan on April 20th.
If he wants to pay Sandor a step aside again so that he can fight someone else, he can do that. If not, Haney will have to defend against Sandor next, and that’s not a PPV-level fight.
Putting that fight on DAZN PPV could bring in even worse PPV numbers than Haney’s clash against Regis Prograis brought in last December. That event reportedly did 50K on DAZN pay-per-view.
Hearn’s Analysis and Prediction
“He’s also world-ranked with the WBC. Sometime after April 20, the WBC belt is going to become vacant, and Sandor Martin vs. someone is going to take place,” Eddie Hearn told Fighthype about his belief that Haney will vacate his WBC light welterweight title, which assumes that Devin is victorious in his title defense against Ryan Garcia on that date.
“100%, he ain’t going to fight Sandor Martin,” said Hearn when asked if he thinks Haney will vacate his WBC 140-lb title. “Who is going to pay for that fight? They already had to pay Sandor Martin for this fight as a step aside.
“If they can do a deal with Sandor so he can retire and go sit on a beach in Barcelona, and just take step aside money, good luck to him. I think Sandor will want to fight for a world title.
“So, unless Devin boxes that off quickly [fighting Sandor], but you got to take a tiny payday, and I don’t think Devin is about that. I like Matias against Devin Haney,” said Hearn.
