Bill Haney may not have the opportunity to be in his son’s corner for his undisputed lightweight title fight next month but the trainer still expects domination.
It was revealed last week that Bill would be unable to travel to Australia with Devin for the June 5 fight against George Kambosos Jr due to Visa issues denying him entry into the country.
The WBC champion will instead have Yoel Judah at his back as the pair attempt to beat Kambosos in front of his own fans and walk out with all four titles.
“Yoel Judah, we have nothing but respect for him and everything he has done in boxing with Zab,” Bill told The DAZN Boxing Show.
“He’s the perfect guy in a hostile environment. Yoel is the guy you wanna go with. He has that Brooklyn attitude; he wears it on his sleeve. He’s a fighter’s coach, I went with my gut. I developed Devin with a whole plethora of trainers and mentors, and I think Devin is the kinda race car that any one of them could drive it at this point in time.”
Haney remains optimistic that he can be at the Marvel Stadium, Melbourne in time for the fight as he continues to work with attorneys, immigration and Top Rank who co-promote the event.
Father and son were pictured embracing just before the latter flew off to Australia. And while it was a touching moment Devin gave his dad even more confidence and belief he would return to America as undisputed.
“He assured me, he said, ‘Pops I’m going to make this happen, I’m going to get all the belts and I’ll meet you back at home’.”
Bill added: “Devin is our Steph Curry, he’s our Michael Jordan, he’s our LeBron. He’s ready to go. This is a sport that we’ve been working and preparing in for 15 years. You have to let go and trust in the work you’ve put in.”
Haney was asked if he had any concerns about poor scoring and officiating in Australia for this first of a two-fight deal.
“This is Devin Haney, we haven’t been in any close fights,” he answered.
“We don’t know what a close fight is. We’re looking to go in and dominate him and put on a hell of a performance. And if we’re talking about pushing boxing forward and the best fighting the best and truly making this an international and global sport then everything gonna be level in terms of the judging and the referees. Those are things we can’t control.
“We can only get in there and put in a performance of a lifetime and that’s what I expect Devin to do. We’re all gonna be on our A-game so we expect the judges to do it as well. We don’t expect a C-level, a D-level or F performance out of some judges when it’s a fight of this magnitude.”