Devin Haney couldn’t stand still, looking nervous, bouncing around during his face-off with WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. at today’s final press conference for their fight this Saturday, November 22nd, at the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Jumping, Fidgeting, Cracking
Haney (32-0, 16 KOs) looked shifty-eyed, stuttering when speaking, and showing fear throughout the press conference. His attempts to disguise his fear by jumping around didn’t work. One could tell from looking at him that he didn’t want to be on stage in Norman Jr’s presence.
Confidence Gone Missing
The confidence that Haney once had pre-Ryan Garcia fight is gone. He’s like a different person since suffering that three-knockdown loss. Today was just a clear example that Devin is still haunted by what happened. That fight did something to him that hasn’t been reversed.
Devin’s last fight against Jose Ramirez, in which he ran around the ring for 12 rounds, looking broken mentally. Haney doesn’t look like his mind has recovered from that experience.
He’s going to have to muster some offense on Saturday because Norman Jr. will put a lot more heat on him than the past his prime Ramirez did. He looked like he wasn’t even trying to get to Devin in their Times Square fight.
Turki Won’t Tolerate “Tom & Jerry”
Turki Alalshikh is going to be fuming in the front row if Haney turns in another Jerry-esque performance on Saturday, like he did against Jose Ramirez at Times Square in New York. He’s paying Haney a fortune to be on this card, and he’s already given his famous no Tom and Jerry mandate. You can just imagine Turki’s blood pressure going through the roof during the fight if Devin chooses to ignore his orders and run anyway.
“We fight everybody different,” said a nervous-looking Devin Haney when asked about his reaction to Brian Norman Jr’s comment at today’s final press conference that he’s going to run from him on Saturday night. “I fought [Jose] Ramirez different than I fought Loma. I fought Loma different than I fought Regis.
At this point, it’s questionable whether Haney can take a hard punch from Norman Jr. without suffering flashbacks from what happened to him against Ryan. That’s if he doesn’t go down immediately from the shot.
“So, the world has got to see what game plan me and my team have drawn up, and how I’ll beat this guy,” said Haney. “No, I think he’s a great fighter,” said Devin when reminded about his recent comment about calling Norman Jr. a ‘bum.’ “Devin Haney, WBO champion,” said Haney on what his prediction is for Saturday.
Whatever game plan Haney’s team has “drawn up,” it’s doubtful that he’ll be able to follow it. When a vet suffering from fatigue is thrown back into the front lines, they’re unreliable and beyond following orders. The most likely thing we’ll see from Haney on Saturday is a repeat of what he did against Ramirez, with him on his bike, doing all he can not to get hit.
Norman Jr.’s KO Promise
“If I want to go to the cards, I can do that. If I want to knock him out, I’m definitely going to do that anyway as is,” said Norman Jr. “It’s me stamping my name in the game. The boy is going to sleep.”
