Eddie Hearn believes that Devin Haney may have to take a pay cut of sorts in order to get a shot at fighting George Kambosos Jr. for all the marbles in the lightweight division.
The Las Vegas-based Haney, the holder of the WBC 135-pound belt, is the presumed frontrunner to face Australia’s Kambosos, who owns the division’s three other belts, WBA, WBO, and IBF.
Haney shot to the front of the line after it was revealed by BoxingScene.com earlier this week that former undisputed lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko would not be leaving his homeland of Ukraine, where he is currently helping defend the country from the Russian invasion. The Ukrainian had originally reached an agreement to fight Kambosos June 5 at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia, but it was not to be. Enter Haney.
Promoter Lou DiBella, who handles Kambosos, told BoxingScene.com’s Keith Idec that Haney would be “given the same opportunity to fight on the same terms as Lomachenko had.” DiBella said in the same interview that he had reached out to DAZN, the streaming platform, with an offer to stage Kambosos-Haney.
Hearn, the head of Matchroom Boxing, which promotes Haney and is a major content provider for DAZN, confirmed that he had discussed DiBella’s offer with Haney, but he made it clear that the financial terms are “well below” Haney’s value as a fighter.
“I had a long call last night with [Haney’s father] Bill and Devin Haney," Hearn told SecondsOut.com. “We’ve had an offer from DAZN. We need to make sure everything is right within the offer, in the deal. We’re ready to go, we’re ready to take that fight.”
“The offer is well below what I believe this fight is worth to Devin Haney,” Hearn added. “But he’s a guy that wants legacy. He believes he can win this fight and if he does he becomes undisputed world champion. He’s doing this because this is the fight to take.
Hearn said he was a bit peeved by what he felt was Team Kambosos’ attempt to rush Haney into signing a contract. Still, Hearn expressed confidence that the fight will get made.
“I don’t want to wind the other team up but we sort of did get it (the contract), what, 24, 48 hours ago and they’re like, ‘right, now you’ve got it, now hurry up (and sign),’ Hearn said. “Oh, great. We’ve been waiting about three months for this fight. Now that Lomachenko won’t take it, it’s over to us, is it? But that’s OK. We’ll take this fight.”
The 23-year-old Haney (27-0, 15 KOs) last fought in December, notching a wide unanimous decision over Joseph Diaz at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The 28-year-old Kambosos (20-0, 10 KOs) last fought in November, an upset over then unified titlist Teofimo Lopez by split decision.
