It took Devin Haney just one fight in the super lightweight division to become a two-weight champion. April 20 sees him make the first defense of his WBC title at the Brooklyn Center in New York. The challenger is Ryan Garcia who has a tough task ahead of him but he’s optimistic about his chances but according to NJ.bet, online betting guide in New Jersey, Devin Haney is a favorite to win.
Garcia believes he’ll become the WBC super lightweight champion in April. So convinced is he of that fact that he is already talking about a unification fight with WBO title holder Teofimo Lopez.
If that doesn’t come to fruition then a rematch with Gervonta Davis is also on his wishlist. Davis ended the unbeaten professional record of Garcia when beating him in seven rounds last April.
His dream match is to take on former champion Manny Pacquiao in Saudi Arabia. That would be a massive payday but has little to do with winning titles. It seems Pacquiao is more interested in taking on Conor Benn some time this summer.
The title challenger is looking ahead but surely he should be concentrating fully on fighting Haney on April 20. Another loss in that match would convince his critics even more that Garcia struggles to mix it with the very best boxers around.
He has been talking in a confident mood though and says in April he’s going to beat Haney by knock-out. Garcia has backed that up by saying he feels he’s in “the best place” he’s been both mentally. He’s had one fight since losing to Davis, beating Oscar Duarte on points last December.
That’s taken some ring rust off but has done little to prove he can beat Haney at super lightweight. Garcia says he hasn’t stopped training since then and is in the best shape of his career. He needs to have a chance of winning the title in April.
Whereas the challenger has already lost one pro fight and had to come off the canvas to beat Luke Campbell, Haney is yet to taste defeat.
His professional career began eight years ago with his first two wins taking just 129 seconds to achieve. Even then it was clear that he had a great future ahead of him.
It didn’t take Haney long to start winning titles, beginning with the WBC Youth lightweight title in 2017. By the end of 2018 he had also won the WBC and WBO Inter Continental belts.
It was in 2019 that his career moved up a significant level. After winning the WBC interim lightweight title, he then took on Alfredo Santiago for the main title. Not only did he dethrone the champion but all three judges gave him all 12 rounds.
Haney made some comfortable defenses of his newly won title. That included one against Jorges Linares but his next two fights saw him having to travel to Australia.
Having won the WBC title at lightweight, Haney was out to win the other versions. That meant going down under to face George Kambosos Jr who held the WBA (Super), WBO and IBF belts. He’d won those with a surprise victory over Teofimo Lopez but was determined to defend those belts in his own country.
Haney may have had to travel thousands of miles but it was well worth it. He convincingly beat the Australian to become the first undisputed lightweight champion since four belts were available. Would the big-money fights now come along?
Not just yet because the oh-so-common rematch clause was in place. Not just that but Haney had to again go to Australia to again face Kambosos Jr. Again, it was worth the air miles with another convincing points win and by an even wider margin.
Returning to the US, Haney finally got a mega-fight signed up. He took on former champion Vasyl Lomachenko last May with his four titles on the line. For the seventh fight in a row, Haney won an undisputed points decision.
Two judges gave it to Haney by just two points, the other by four. It was a controversial decision with some onlookers believing Lomachenko deserved the verdict.
It was to be his last fight at lightweight and he moved up a division. That led to him immediately taking on Regis Prograis for the WBC super lightweight title and again getting a unanimous points win. There was no controversy this time with all three judges scoring the fight 120-107. Every round was given to Haney with a 10-8 in round three after knocking the champion down.
Not since 2019 has Haney had an inside-the-distance win. He might fancy another one though when taking on Garcia in April.
