DEVIN Haney stated, in no uncertain terms, that his November 22 clash with Brian Norman Jr is effectively a mismatch. Speaking at the press conference to promote David Benavidez vs. Anthony Yarde, both Haney and Norman Jr took to the mic, offering predictably different interpretations of what will go down in Riyadh when they meet for Norman Jr’s WBO welterweight strap.
It’s been an interesting few months for Haney, who was expected to fight one of the two men he shared a show with in May, Ryan Garcia or Teofimo Lopez. Neither matchup transpired, for varying reasons. Moving up to 147 pounds, seeking yet another world title, Haney has that trinity of weights on his mind.
“Another shot for me to become a three-division champion. Brian Norman is just another guy. I’ve been at this level for a long time. Brian Norman, this is his big moment. This is his first time here. I’m here to show him that it’s levels. I’m on a totally different level than him. I’m happy for this opportunity,” growled ‘The Dream’.
Despite Norman Jr being a full-fledged welterweight, holding a title, and having displayed huge fight-changing power, Haney doesn’t foresee brawn overcoming his brains.
“I don’t know nobody that he fought. He’s never knocked out nobody at the top. I know he’s gonna say ‘oh, you’re gonna be the first one’, yeah, okay, sound good. We’ve heard this before, but he’s never done this at the highest level. I’ve been at the highest level for seven, eight years now.
“I think I think it’s one-sided, I’m gonna go in there and handicap him. I know that he has power, we all know that he got power. But against guys we’ve never seen before. We’ve never heard of these guys before, so I will show him that power is good. Muscles is good, he’s got a lot of muscles, but muscles don’t win fights.”
Having tentatively tested the waters above 140 (where he dominated Regis Prograis and lost to Ryan Garcia), Haney has now grown fully into a 147-pound fighter. He doesn’t see the extra weight as making much of a distance, given their ability levels, in his view at least.
“It don’t matter, I’m levels above this guy. It don’t matter what weight, you can do that 140, 145, 143, 147, it don’t matter, I’m levels above him.”
Brian Norman Jr didn’t seem fussed by Haney’s projections. The man who smashed Jin Sasaki into oblivion, on away soil, says doubters have followed him around his whole career and life. That’s left the Georgian with a big chip on his shoulder. He’s ready to bash the dull old guard out of boxing and herald the era of a new generation.
“Time is up. It’s time for y’all to get up out of my sport. Y’all tearing it up anyway. They keep looking at the power, but the power don’t mean nothing if you can’t land it.
“You gotta have some kind of IQ. You gotta learn how to put that thing together, I’m gonna show y’all something different coming into this fight,” he stated.
