Bud has never fought an elite prime champion in a high risk fight. And on top of it, Haney is fighting a black fighter. Bud's whole resume is filled with guys way out of their prime or b level guys. There isn't a single prime elite fighter on Bud's resume or a fight on Bud's resume that made you say 'Bud might lose this one because his opponent is really good'
Canelo- past prime
Madrimov- b level
Spence- past prime
Avanysean- past prime/b level
Porter- past prime
Brook- past prime
Mean machine- b level
Khan- past prime
Benavidez- Injured/past prime/b level
Horn- c level
Indingo- b level
Felix Diaz- c level
Molina- c level/past prime
Postol- b level
Lundy- c level
Jean- c level
Dulorme- b level
Beltran- c level
Gamboa- weight bullied badly
Burns- b level
Haney is fighting an elite prime champion in a fight that most of us think he's going to get beat up in. This is a very high risk fight for Haney. Bud has never challenged himself like this.
Madrimov is infinitely better than Norman who got lucky for the cut against santillan.
Postol and Gamboa are better too.
Hankey is gonna get his ass kicked and it's not because of skills it's because hes once again fighting a guy his size that he doesn't outweigh 20+ pounds
It's always easy looking in from the outside and in hindsight. Though let's not forget intangibles involved at the time fighters face guys that might of been lower level or out of prime. There is a story to every fight and perhaps it was all that Bud could get at the time. Don't forget, not until recently did people start to get to know who Bud is. A tad late considering his age, but back then, nobody knew or cared about him, so it made making fights more difficult.