Boxing News
Devin Haney prods Keyshawn Davis for title showdown
Jun 3, 2026 • 6:21 PM ET
Leigh Dawney / Queensberry PromotionsThe pen is mightier than the talk.
First, there was a social-media exchange between two of the sport’s most prominent players, former lightweight champion Keyshawn Davis and the father-manager-trainer of three-division champion Devin Haney, Bill Haney.
That provoked an action that could bring the fighters toward a super-fight this year, with the WBO on Tuesday jumping No. 1-ranked 140lbs contender Davis to No. 1 behind Haney in the sanctioning body’s welterweight rankings.
“Let’s do it, Keyshawn,” Haney wrote on “X” upon learning of Davis’ promotion.
As Haney 33-0 (15KOs) is coming off a November victory over former champion Brian Norman Jnr, 2021 U.S. Olympic silver-medalist Davis 15-0 (10KOs) last month defeated rival Nahir Albright in a hometown 140lbs bout in Norfolk, Virginia.
He’d previously confronted the elder Haney to make the fight happen, bringing Bill Haney to say he’d “stand on it.”
Although there have been industry whispers that Haney is heading to Zuffa Boxing, an official updated on the matter Tuesday told BoxingScene there’s no pressing impediment that would keep Haney-Davis from being negotiated and made.
Now, all that’s missing is ink to paper.
Lance Pugmire has been a full-time boxing writer for nearly 20 years, serving now as BoxingScene’s U.S. Senior Writer and assistant producer for ProBoxTV’s “BoxingScene Today.” Pugmire capped a near 20-year career at the Los Angeles Times (sports investigations, NHL/MLB beat work, law enforcement/courts and boxing/UFC) to join The Athletic, and then USA Today. Pugmire’s stint at The Times started with the first Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez fight and the Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jnr then-record pay-per-view, leading through a slew of ringside assignments at major bouts, including Mayweather-Pacquiao, Mayweather-Canelo and the Canelo-Golovkin trilogy. Lance’s appreciation for boxing is rooted in his admiration and appreciation for the fighters, gladiators who have proven to be the most forthcoming and candid of all the athletes he has interviewed over a career dating to 1990. Lance was honored to be named the 2022 winner of the Boxing Writers Association of America Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence and he’s collected many BWAA writing awards in categories ranging from breaking news to deep-dive long features.
