Devin Haney, fresh off an impressive points victory over Brian Norman Jnr to win the WBO welterweight title, did not take kindly to comments from Conor Benn or his promoter Eddie Hearn.
Last weekend, Benn defeated Chris Eubank Jnr in a middleweight rematch. Benn has not competed in the welterweight class since 2022 but yesterday insisted he will return to the division in his next fight.
“There wasn’t entertainment in there,” Benn said of Haney’s victory that netted him a world title in a third weight class. “I put on fight of the year contenders and [Haney] puts people to sleep.”
At ringside, Benn pretended to do just that on Hearn’s shoulder. The promoter declared that Haney, while outpointing the previously unbeaten Norman, was “fighting scared. He doesn’t want to engage.”
Haney, 33-0-1 NC (15 KOs) and a former client of Hearn’s, wasn’t amused.
“Conor Benn is nothing compared to me, he’s never accomplished nothing,” Haney said. “His biggest win is fighting a weight-drained Chris Eubank [Jnr]. He’s never been a world champion, he’s never done nothing in the sport of boxing.
“He got lucky with the opportunity [against Eubank] because he’s Eddie Hearn’s puppet. He’s accomplished nothing and he can say what he want to say. But he’s not on my level.”
“Eddie Hearn is like a bitter ex of mine,” Haney later told Seconds Out. “He picked me to lose, he’s always got something to say about me. Knock it off.”
“It’s not Conor Benn, it’s Conor When,” added Devin’s father Bill Haney at the post-fight press conference. “When is he going to get a belt? When is Benn gonna do something – just one thing – that is on the level of Devin Haney?”
If Benn is a non-starter in the eyes of Team Haney, there remains what Bill called “unfinished business” with Ryan Garcia, who last year outpointed Haney only for the bout to be ruled a no-contest when Garcia tested positive for Ostarine.
“That rivalry goes back to the amateurs,” said Haney Snr. “So I would never say he’s someone who’s not on our radar.”
Garcia this week announced that he will next fight WBC beltholder Mario Barrios and the winner of that bout could indeed follow for Haney. So too whomever comes out on top should Shakur Stevenson and Teofimo Lopez collide in January as advertised.
As for the fighter himself, Haney wants the best available opposition.
“Whoever y’all say is the guy,” he said. “[But Benn] is not the guy. But the type of fighter I am, I don’t care [who I fight].
