As Devin Haney looks to make his ring return, the one thing he must improve on is his defense considering the kind of punishment he received against Ryan Garcia.
Garcia was suspended after testing positive for ostarine, so Haney retained his WBC junior welterweight title despite suffering a majority decision loss. That result has been overturned to a “no contest.” (Haney has since been named the “champion in recess” at 140lbs, with Alberto Puello now the WBC’s full titleholder.)
With Haney preparing for a return, trainer Nate Jones has been added to the team, a move Bill Haney, the fighter’s father and coach, believes will help his son’s comeback.
“He's spent a lot of time with Devin as a young fighter, so we just think that he was a great addition,” Bill told Fight Hub TV. “We just want to just tighten up on our defense. We wanna be more defensive conscious. I think that Devin was answering and into pleasing the fans with the last fight and the last style that he showed. Like I said, he showed tremendous heart. He stepped to Ryan Garcia, who is a puncher, a fast-quick puncher, and he got hit with the left hook numerous times.”
Haney, 31-0 (15 KOs), was badly bruised in his last ring outing nearly nine months ago against Garcia, 24-1 (20 KOs), suffering three knockdowns.
Reports have suggested that Haney and Garcia are considering a rematch, while others speculate a fight with Adrien Broner could be part of Haney’s return. Bill expects his son to be ready to face any opponent.
“I think we’ve shown that we're working on eliminating any of those [defensive] holes,” he said. “That’s one thing I feel that a lot of people have mentioned. If there is ever a potential rematch between Devin and Ryan, that’s the one thing that needs to be implemented.”
Bill said that Devin has been working tirelessly in training as he looks to come back stronger. An announcement of Haney’s next opponent should be made soon.
“He's been hitting fast. He's been doing a lot of his running. We're gonna start doing some sparring this week,” Bill said. “At his young age of 26, he’s had 31 [professional] fights with 138 amateur fights. His body needed a well-deserved rest, and I was happy he said that he was gonna take a year off.
“Devin is one of the superstars in boxing. He's the youngest undisputed champion, and also he’s the youngest boss in the business, so the opportunities are around the corner. And as we take a look at everything, of course, it all has to make sense.”
Bernard Neequaye is a sports journalist with a specialty in boxing coverage. He wrote a boxing column titled “From The Ringside” in his native Ghana for years. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) at @BernardNeequaye, LinkedIn at Bernard Neequaye and through email at bernardneequaye@gmail.com.