Devin Haney will be stripped of world title if he goes ahead with ‘biggest fight of the year’

Kerr Ferguson

Devin Haney will be stripped of world title if he goes ahead with ‘biggest fight of the year’
Image credit: Getty

Just as Devin Haney and Shakur Stevenson’s public back-and-forth threatened to turn into the makings of a real fight, the WBO has stepped in to clarify its position.

Haney picked up the sanctioning body’s welterweight world title with a statement win over hard-hitting Brian Norman Jr in November last year, but is yet to secure a first defence.

Though he has targeted a rematch with WBC champion Ryan Garcia and another unification with the WBA’s Rolando Romero, fans have expressed keen interest in a pound-for-pound battle against Shakur Stevenson, who moved up from light to super-lightweight in January.

The weight has been the main stumbling block, with Stevenson looking for either a rehydration clause at welterweight or a catchweight of 144lbs. Haney’s team looked to be standing firm on 147 without restrictions, but Haney recently conceded on social media and the pair verbally agreed that 144 could be the weight.

Though the fight is certainly one of the most intriguing in boxing, Keyshawn Davis – yet to fight at welterweight but recently installed as the WBO number one and mandatory challenger – now stands in the way.

In fact, the sanctioning body has since confirmed, as reported by the Ring, that the fight must take place before any other defences can be considered.

“Devin must discharge of his mandatory next.”

Davis, also undefeated, has taken personal issue with the public negotiations, too. In his latest response, friend and training partner Stevenson said that he would not push for the fight if ‘The Businessman’ was serious about taking it.

Haney has previously branded a fight with Stevenson ‘the biggest of the year’, but also accepts the magnitude of Davis in the opposite corner. It seems that, despite progress on the weight dispute, he must shift his focus back if he wants to remain world champion.

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