Devin Haney: Big Fights Can Be Made If You Truly Want Them

There is only “one street” in Devin Haney’s mind.

In a recent interview, the WBC lightweight titleholder tried to refute the notion that fighters who belong to different promotional entities are more or less consigned to operating within their respective spheres, thus preventing the most competitive matches in the sport from being made.

Haney, of course, used himself as a prime example. The Las Vegas denizen will face George Kambosos in a full lightweight unification bout June 5 at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. In order to get the fight, Haney had to agree to terms set forth by Kambosos’ promoter Lou DiBella and Top Rank Inc. The fight will be televised by ESPN, the network with which Top Rank has an exclusive output deal.

In the interview, Haney referred to the phrase “the other side of the street”, a catch-all made popular by Errol Spence Jr., who has used it several times in the past to describe why a fight between him and Terence Crawford would be unlikely as long as they were aligned with different business competitors. Spence is backed by Premier Boxing Champions, while Crawford, now a free agent, has long been promoted by Top Rank.

“I want to inspire guys, you know, all that ‘other side of the street stuff’ – If you really, truly want these big fights, they can be made,” Haney told FightHype.com.

In Haney’s case, it helped tremendously that he was not actually tied contractually to a promoter when he agreed to the Kambosos fight. Haney was previously signed to a long term contract with Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, who has an exclusive content deal with DAZN, but he decided to become a free agent last summer. Matchroom still promoted Haney’s last fight, a 12-round lightweight against Joseph Diaz, which Haney won by unanimous decision.

Initially, Kambosos’ promoter DiBella was trying to negotiate a deal with DAZN to showcase Kambosos-Haney, but talks folded. And yet because Haney was not under contract with the network, DiBella was able to present the fight to Top Rank and ESPN, which submitted an acceptable offer.

Haney (27-0, 15 KOs) hopes more fighters will follow his lead, as it pertains to facing a unified fighter like Kambosos (20-0, 10 KOs) for all the titles.

“People say ‘Oh, it can’t be made because you’re signed with that promoter, or you’re this or you’re that’ but if you truly want it, you would do the Devin Haney, and that’s what Devin Haney’s doing,” Haney said. “He started something new. He’s doing whatever he’s gotta do to make the fight happen.”