Eddie Hearn has highlighted some big fights for Devin Haney, and wants to bring him back to Matchroom to promote them.
There was a time when some fans of the sport branded young Haney as an ’email champion.’ This was because, despite fighting his way to the position of WBC Interim Champion, he never had the chance to fight for the actual belt and was, instead, announced as full champion when Vasiliy Lomachenko was given a ‘franchise’ belt by the WBC.
It’s a different story today. ‘The Dream’ travelled to Australia and beat George Kambosos Jr twice in a row to win and retain every belt in the division. He’s on a path to becoming one of the star’s of the sport, and has plenty of fighters coming for his crown. One of those is former unified champion, Lomachenko.
Hearn, who promoted Haney until early 2022, was in Abu Dhabi this weekend discussing with Intu Boxing what fights his partnership with the country’s department of culture would like to see. Haney – Lomachenko, the promoter reckons, isn’t one of them.
“Haney – Lomachenko doesn’t appeal out here because [it’s] not the fight that it once was. I mean, after Lomachenko’s performance – and he’s still a great fighter – I just think Devin Haney’s a massive favourite in that fight. Now, Devin Haney against Ryan Garcia is a fight that could come out here. Ryan Garcia against Gervonta Davis is a fight that could come out here.”
As for whether or not Hearn will be guiding Haney’s career once more, he remains hopeful. Matchroom had the reins of the young lightweight up until a move to Top Rank was required to challenge for Kambosos Jr’s undisputed titles.
“I don’t know. I mean, look, I don’t want to say it’s inevitable that he’ll come back to us, but we’re pretty close. I think he’s got one fight [with Top Rank] where he’s got to negotiate a deal to fight Lomachenko, but we’d love to bring him back to Matchroom when there was an opportunity to do so. We don’t want to interfere with any contracts, but he’s a friend of mine and a tremendous fighter, and getting better and better.”
It seems all systems are go for Haney’s scrap with Lomachenko under the Top Rank banner, in what will be the young American’s second and toughest defence of all the belts. Should he win, it appears he has some big decisions to make.