Haney Vacates All Of His Belts At Lightweight
In today’s boxing news, Devin Haney has officially vacated all his titles at lightweight.
The news arrives following Haney’s move up to junior welterweight in order to take on Regis Prograis for his WBC belt. And in the process of doing so, Haney was stripped of his WBC lightweight belt. This was taken by Shakur Stevenson following his win over Edwin De Los Santos for the vacant title. Haney was a champion in recess at 135 for the WBC belt. However, the move to vacate has now ruled out the possibility of a fight at 135 against Stevenson.
The news should not come as a surprise since Haney has achieved everything at 135 pounds. After having become undisputed at 135 following his win over George Kambosos Jr, the boxer defended his titles successfully. This included the rematch against the Australian. That was then followed by a win over Vasiliy Lomachenko. As such, it became clear that Haney had struggled to make the weight.
Haney On His Future
“Everything aligned for me to become a two-division world champion against arguably the number one guy at 140. Me to showcase my skills when I’m much stronger, weight won’t be my focus around camp, I’ll be able to be comfortable and go in 100 percent. I’m that kind of fighter – I want to fight the best fighters, I want to prove myself time and time again. I fought a future Hall of Famer in my last fight, and now I’m going up to fight another champion. It’ll be a good fight for boxing,” Haney said
This naturally begs the question: Where does Haney go next? If the boxer were to come out victorious against Prograis, there is a chance that a unification fight could follow. A super fight with Teofimo Lopez for the WBO junior welterweight belt may occur.
The duo do have a history of bad blood. At the same time, Lopez has one of the best resumes in the sport, making him more than a viable opponent. Elsewhere, a unification bout against Subriel Matias, the IBF 140 pound champion, would also be a big name. The former does have the boxer’s ability to get his opponents out of the ring, having stopped 20 out of his 21 opponents.
Other Options
Outside of that, there could also be a super fight with Ryan Garcia. The latter has shown his ability to bring in huge numbers after having sold over 1.2 million PPVs, as shown with his fight against Gervonta Davis. The fight produced the highest gate of the year, which earned Garcia a reported $30 million.
Elsewhere, there is the chance that Haney moves up to 147. Bill Haney made it clear that Keith Thurman could become an option at welterweight, which would give Haney a chance to target a shot at 147 for a belt. Terence Crawford is likely to vacate his belts following his win over Errol Spence Jr., having already been stripped of his IBF belt after failing to fight Jaron Ennis. And that could equally make 147 an option for Haney.
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