Devin Haney knew for years that he had the skill set to become the best lightweight in the world.
What he long sought for was the right opportunity to prove to everyone else in the industry what he always knew to be the case. It finally came in his first fight with George Kambosos Jr., when Haney traveled to Australia for their anticipated lightweight championship clash. The 23-year-old Bay Area-born, Las Vegas-based boxer finally silenced his remaining critics after dominating Kambosos to defend his WBC title and add the lineal, WBA, IBF and WBO crowns to his collection this past June 6 in Melbourne.
Haney is back to Australia for their rematch this weekend at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne (Saturday, ESPN, 10:30 p.m. ET), this time as the defending undisputed champion. He also enters the rematch armed with the respect his career always deserved but which he was always ready and willing to fully earn.
“I feel like now, I’m finally getting my just due,” Haney told BoxingScene.com. “It was after the Kambosos fight, for sure. I think that was the time for me to finally get my credit. It was the first title fight where everything was against me. Nothing was working in my favor, it was a do-or-die moment.
“That was the time when I was able to show that if you gave me the right opportunity, I would earn my just due.”
Haney (28-0, 15KOs) fought outside of North America for the first time as a pro in his June clash with Sydney’s Kambosos (20-1, 10KOs). The moment came with the uncertainty of whether his father and head trainer, Bill Haney, would be able to resolve a lingering visa issue in time to join him for the biggest fight of his career to that point. The elder Haney was cleared for travel less than 48 hours before fight night, not even in country for a full day by the time the opening bell sounded ahead of the younger Haney’s masterclass boxing performance.
The uncertainty surrounding his team’s status added a level of sympathy that Haney hadn’t experienced to that point in his career. It didn’t come in clear cut wins over former titlists and established lightweight contenders Jorge Linares and Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz in back-to-back fights, or at any point during a WBC title reign where Haney was mockingly referred to as ‘email champion’ after being elevated from interim to full title status in lieu of his greater desire to have won the title in the ring.
That forever went away after dethroning Kambosos in dominant fashion. Now comes the expectation to repeat the feat, if not even more convincingly the second time around.
“After that fight, the world will give me my just due even more,” noted Haney. “I beat him one way the first fight. It’s easy for me to beat him again that way. But once they see the different way stylistically that I beat him in this fight, the world will love me even more.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox