Update: Devin Haney fired back at Shakur Stevenson, stating he initially accepted 145 pounds before Stevenson vanished for days and tried sneaking in a rehydration clause.
“You’re cap.. I agreed to 145 u went missing for days. Tried to put a rehydration clause on me. I wasted 6 months negotiating with you,” Haney posted on X. “I been negotiating with u since i was gonna sign to Zuffa. Yall did every thing for this fight not to happen even tried to throw Keyshawn in my way.”
Haney brings a crucial detail into public view. His original stance was 145 pounds with zero weight limits on fight morning. If Stevenson demanded a ceiling on Haney rehydrating after the weigh in, that altered the deal completely.
That explains Haney shutting down the catchweight talk. Trimming down two extra pounds while keeping the freedom to bulk back up on fight night is completely separate from accepting strict secondary limits. Haney skipped over Stevenson’s claim that an attorney formally demanded 147 pounds, but his message makes his anger obvious.
For Haney, who already had to dry himself out to shave two pounds off the 147 welterweight limit, that restriction is brutal. Capping Haney at 155 on Saturday morning prevents him from drinking freely, forces him to go to bed dehydrated, and leaves him depleted inside the ring.
That is why Haney walked away. Offering the two-pound concession at 145 was already a compromise.
Devin Haney Has Reasons to Reconsider Shakur Catchweight
Shakur Stevenson claims Devin Haney pulled out of their agreed 145-pound catchweight to demand the full 147-pound welterweight limit, blowing up a deal that looked locked down earlier this month.
Shakur has plenty of reason to be furious. Still, Haney can always rethink whether draining himself below welterweight makes sense against a slick target who rarely gets hit cleanly.
“At the 11th hour, after agreeing to 144 and then 145, DeeHoe had his lawyer email and say that he would only fight at 147. Big waste of everybody’s time,” Shakur posted on X.
Haney originally offered 145 with no rehydration limits, which Shakur took on October 8 with a quick reply: “145.0 U GOT A DEAL.” If Stevenson is telling the whole story, Haney backed off the exact compromise he put on the table.
Fans will call him out for it, but Haney does not have to sign off on terms that leave him depleted in the ring. Two extra pounds below welterweight might sound like nothing from the couch, but that extra pull can easily ruin a camp.
Stevenson is stepping up from 140 to take a shot at Haney’s WBO welterweight belt. Haney can legitimately question why he should drain his body for a challenger whose defensive mastery already makes for a nightmare night at the office.
Haney holds the chips here. He carries bigger commercial pull, so Stevenson is hardly his only ticket to a monster bag. Sitting back to see what happens between Ryan Garcia and Teofimo Lopez gives him another massive payday with far less hassle.
Nobody has seen the lawyer’s email yet, and Shakur never explained what prompted the change. His anger makes complete sense after shaking hands on a public deal, but Haney has to protect his physical edge while weighing the bigger options waiting for him.
Once a fighter shows weakness on the scales, the other camp smells blood and starts picking at the money.
Catchweight concessions always shift the psychological leverage. If Haney drops down to 145 just to accommodate Shakur moving up from 140, Shakur immediately feels like the A side dictating terms. From that vantage point, Shakur starts pushing for an even split or demanding parity he has not earned at the box office.