In boxing, fatherly loyalty is practically part of the contract. Nigel Benn backed his son to the bitter end, and even Chris Eubank Sr., after calling his own kid a “disgrace” in the lead up, still made a surprise ringside appearance to back up Chris Eubank Jr. There’s Teofimo Lopez Sr. as well as Edgar Berlanga Sr. Like we said, its very much a family enterprise when it comes to boxing. However, there’s a place above that. That’s where Bill Haney reigns. He doesn’t just back up his son. Ever the hype man who believes his son Devin Haney is untouchable, Bill is always out there picking fights with boxers and promoters and finalizing the next bout for his son. Whether he’s roasting Jermall Charlo or flexing that Devin Haney supposedly sent Jose Ramirez to the hospital, Bill Haney speaks with the conviction of a man who thinks his son is already in the Hall of Fame.
So, when Devin Haney danced around Jose Ramirez for 12 slow rounds, Bill Haney didn’t flinch. Despite fans snoozing and Jim Lampley nearly calling it lights out in Times Square, Bill doubled down. A few hours ago @thrillboxing took to Instagram and posted a small clip of The Ariel Helwani Show when he sat with Bill Haney in his podcast a few days ago. “Bill Haney said he LOVED Devin Haney’s performance vs Ramirez cause he didn’t get hit & you got to see another dimension in Devin’s game ,” the caption read.
“God gave me the opportunity to be a father. That’s a blessing,” Bill Haney reflected. “He gave Devin [Haney] a gift in boxing. And through that we’ve made history. And they wanna make it a mystery.” And when Ariel Helwani asked about The Dream’s performance against Jose Ramirez, Bill didn’t flinch. “I loved it,” he said. “Because we shut down the critics.” But with criticism mounting over Devin Haney’s evasive style, Haney Sr. promised changes ahead.
“You got to see at 26, another dimension in Devin’s game,” he said, adding that future opponents would be “even more intimidated.” Then came the mic drop: “You’ll call him boring, but you don’t call him easy. You say a lot of shit about him but you don’t call him a loser.”
Ultimately, Ariel pushed back, wondering why fans seemed underwhelmed. “One hypothesis is look, yes, you wanna win. You want to see your fighters win, but you also want to entertain, right? And sometimes, we had Conor Benn on the show last weekend,” pointing out that the 28-year-old went toe-to-toe, even if he took the first career loss in the end.
To this, Bill Haney fired back: “Conor Benn started late in the game. He got caught. He started late. He had no long he has no real in-depth toolbox.” He further added, “No disrespect to them, but you saw two fighters that started late in the game. So you’re not going to see the dimensions to the game.”
And to wrap it all up, Bill Haney made his stance clear: “When you get a fighter with dimensions and a warehouse full of arsenal full of tools like Devin, now you’re going to see the science of boxing.” And with all the changes Bill Haney has promised, the big question now is: when will we see this modernized version of Devin Haney back in the ring? Well, Bill had an answer ready for that, too.
Devin Haney’s father has already made big decisions
In the same podcast, Bill Haney shared his thoughts on Devin Haney’s upcoming fight and the potential rematch with Ryan Garcia. Ariel Helwani expressed his enthusiasm for the fight, despite Garcia’s recent loss, and questioned whether the promoters, particularly His Excellency Turki Alalshikh, would still go ahead with it or if they felt the fight had lost its value. Bill Haney responded thoughtfully, acknowledging the promotional effort already put into the bout.
“I agreed to the fight. So I can’t back out of it. I think they’ve already done promotion for the fight leading up to it,” he told Ariel Helwani. Moreover, “Devin has spent time in promoting that fight. We’ve spent time in negotiating that fight… we believe that that’s the next fight.”
When Helwani asked about the timing of the fight, Bill confirmed that it was likely to happen in mid-October in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. “Yes. In Riyadh. Mid-October in Riyadh,” Bill confirmed. The MMA journalist also asked if Bill Haney would prefer the fight to take place in America. However, he expressed excitement about the international venue. “It’s a dream of us… to fight over there,” he shared. Despite previous international fights in Australia, Bill revealed that fighting in the Middle East had long been on their “bucket list.”
With that in mind, it seems the much-anticipated Devin Haney vs. Ryan Garcia showdown is all but a done deal, expected to be officially announced in the coming weeks. If the two meet again, who do you think takes the win this time around?
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