Devin Haney says he knows he “knows” he broke Brian Norman Jr’s nose in the second round when he dropped him with a right hand last Saturday. He states that he felt that Norman Jr. (28-1, 22 KOs) “didn’t respect” him, and he thought he had to earn the “respect” early or else he’d have had a tough time.
Haney (33-0, 15 KOs) dethroned Norman Jr., taking his WBO welterweight title with a 12-round unanimous decision on November 22nd at the ANB Arena in Riyadh. Devin says the rest of the contest was “easy” for him after the second-round knockdown. It didn’t look that way to fans. Haney did a lot of holding in every round, using that tactic to nullify Norman Jr’s offense and stall out the rounds.
“That was the game plan. I wanted to shock him early,” said Devin Haney to the InsideRingShow, talking about his second-round knockdown of Brian Norman Jr. last Saturday night in Riyadh. “I knew he genuinely didn’t respect me. I knew I had to get my respect or else it was going to be a long night. That’s what I did.”
Norman Jr. looked like he didn’t regain his self-confidence after being dropped in the second round. He was hesitant to attack Devin the way he’d done against other opponents.
“I went in there. I shocked him, hurt him, and it made the rest of the fight easy for me,” said Haney, talking about his knockdown of Norman Jr. “I know that I broke it [Brian’s nose]. But I want him to get back home safely to his family. I hope that it’s not nothing crazy. I got nothing but respect for Brian and his father.”