Devin Haney is expected to use his boxing skills to neutralize WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr’s power to coast to a decision win on Saturday night in their bout on DAZN PPV.
(Credit: Queensberry/Leigh Dawney)
Haney’s Survival Blueprint
Haney (32-0, 16 KOs) needs to shut down the offense of the unbeaten Norman Jr. (28-0, 22 KOs) to keep from winding up in the same position as his last opponent, Jin Sasaki, by getting flattened.
We already know how the fight will play out. Devin will touch and move all night, making it ugly. He wants the win and doesn’t care if it’s not entertaining. Turki Alalshikh likely won’t allow Haney to back into a rematch with Ryan Garcia, with him coming off a knockout loss against Norman Jr.
That would make a mockery of a second fight, sending the message that it’s not about merit. It’s a popularity contest.
“The thing about power is it’s not enough when it comes to elite boxers. Devin Haney is an elite boxer with one of the best jabs in boxing. It’s the chin that is really questionable on Devin Haney,” said commentator Sergio Mora to DAZN Boxing about whether Brian Norman Jr’s power will be enough to lead him to victory over Devin Haney on Saturday.
The Chin Question
The chin is what really counts in this fight on Saturday. It doesn’t matter how good a boxer Haney is. If he can’t take Norman Jr’s power, he’s not going to make it to the 12th.
This isn’t a fight in which Haney will have a six-to-eight-inch reach advantage over Norman Jr, allowing him to fight on the outside all night without getting touched. Norman Jr. has the longer reach, and he’s not going to be afraid to walk through Haney’s punches to land his power shots.
Mora is going overboard in classifying Haney as an “elite boxer.” The fighters he beat at 135 were smaller than him. He was essentially a welterweight fighting at lightweight. Haney’s ability to drain down well below his natural size gave him a tremendous advantage.
Devin only fought one good fighter at 135, Vasily Lomachenko, and his win was controversial. He was at the tail end of his career at 35, fighting two divisions above his best weight class of 126.
We could call Haney an “elite boxer” if he stayed at lightweight and beat Andy Cruz, Adbullah Mason, Floyd Schofield, or Gervonta Davis.
“What Devin Haney are we going to get? Are we going to get the master boxer that we saw, the vulnerable chin that we saw against Ryan Garcia, or the skittish Devin Haney that we saw in his last fight against Jose Ramirez? These are the questions that are going to get answered,” said Mora.
Expect an Ugly Fight
One has to assume that on Saturday night, we’re going to get the same “skittish” version of Haney that we witnessed in his last fight against Jose Ramirez in the stacked ‘Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves’ event at Times Square in New York on May 2, 2025.
Devin looked afraid of Ramirez at all times, running the entire 12 rounds and not standing still long enough to throw more than one punch at a time. If Haney was afraid to exchange with the 33-year-old Ramirez, he’ll likely be the same way against Brian Norman Jr., who is a huge puncher with either hand.