Devin can be in heaven .. and spark a whole new round of rivalries
DEVIN HANEY steps out of the shadow of Teofimo Lopez following the latter’s dethroning of Vasyl Lomachenko.
Haney had chased that privilege himself but Loma’s promoters at Top Rank elected instead to take on Lopez a fortnight ago.
No disrespect to Lopez, who fought brilliantly, but given Loma’s lacklustre display Haney will have been screaming i nsi de at t he opportunity missed.
Haney ’s dat e with Yuriorki s Gamboa in Miami is an opportunity t o s h o w c a s e h i s g i f t s i n a lightweight division packed with talent, including Ryan Garcia, who he beat as an amateur, Gervonta Davis and Luke Campbell.
Haney i s obviously a talented fighter. He can box and fight. He is crammed into the weight, but is still a baby.
He is up against an old man in Gamboa, who, though still high class, is not big enough to trade above super featherweight. Like many of his Cuban brothers who defected , Gamboa l eft a l ot of himself behind i n the amateur code.
When t h e y t ur n ov e r t h e y discover much of their physicality was spent in a three- x- three- minute- round environment.
Besi d e s , t h e re has t o b e a question mark over a 38- year- old who won f lyweight gold in Athens 16 years ago and turned pro in 2007, especially after the awful Achilles injury suffered against Davis last December.
Hopefully Gamboa will be able to interrogate Haney properly. As he showed against Davis, he knows his way around a ring and has lost only three times.
Lopez knocked a big hole in the div i si on with t he downing of Lomachenko, who it appears had difficulty with that shoulder again.
L o m a w a s h o l d i n g b a c k throughout the fight. He could not throw punches with hi s usual venom and did not win a round in the first half of the fight.
Ultimately this is a young man’s game. Lopez is 23, Garcia 22, Davis 25. Haney, who turns 22 this month, is waiting for his breakout moment.
The big fights are out there but they might not happen at lightweight. Both Haney and Lopez are talking about going to 140.
Neither will fill out until ntil they are 27, 28. At 5ft 8in, both are re big for the weight and ambitious. s. I ’m not sure we’ ll see Lopez fight at lightweight again.
So this a chance for or
Haney to really shine e and to whip up those e rivalries.
He will want to get the job done quicker than Terence Crawford
( nine) and Davis ( 12).
I would be surprised if he doesn’t finish it by halfway.