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Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn questions whether Devin Haney will be strong enough to thrive at 147 if he moves up to that weight class when he returns to the ring in 2025. The former two-division world champion Haney possesses the skills, but he won’t go far without power.
Haney’s Power Deficit
Hearn is confident that the former two-division world champion Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) possesses the punch resistance to compete with the top fighters at welterweight, but he doubts whether he has the power to do so.
The problem is that if Haney is too weak to hurt fighters at 147, he will be forced to go the 12-round distance to win, and that will not be easy against the top-echelon guys in the division.
Without Shakur-esque defensive ability, Haney will be food for guys like Brian Norman Jr. and Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
A Shallow Division at 147
One thing that Haney has in his favor is that there are only two good fighters he would need to worry about at welterweight – Boots and Norman Jr. He would have an excellent chance of beating everyone else. However, the division lacks popular fighters, and Haney would bring in all the fans single-handedly unless he were fighting Ryan Garcia or Boots Ennis.
“You have to look at your weight. It’s all too well you saying you’re too big for 135,” Eddie Hearn told All the Smoke site, talking about Devin Haney needing to make a sound decision about which weight class is ideal for him.
“Then you get to 140, and you struggle a bit, and you say, ‘I’m too big for 140.’ Then you got up against big, strong guys at 147. I think Devin’s chin is good enough. He’s been hurt a couple of times,” said Hearn.
Haney could probably still make 140, but there isn’t anyone for him to fight in that division besides Teofimo Lopez, whose popularity has nosedived due to repeated poor performances. Given how barren the light welterweight division is, it’s no longer worth the trouble for Haney to stay in this weight class.
Punch Resistance and Defense Will be Crucial
“He was hurt by Ryan. At 147, will the weight allow him to be a little more robust, or will he not be strong enough at 147? Are you going to stay at 140 or move to 147? You’ve got to take the right fight,” said Hearn.
If Haney can take a punch better at 147 than at 140 and 140, he’ll do well because his boxing skills are superior to virtually all the fighters in the division, apart from Boots Ennis. However, he’d been rehydrating to the 160s and still had problems taking shots. So, his punch resistance likely won’t improve at 147, and he’ll need to focus more on his defense to win his fights.
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