Keyshawn Davis: “I know I would stop Devin Haney”

Keyshawn Davis claims he would knock out Devin Haney if given a chance to fight the former two-division world champion. Davis (11-0, 7 KOs) says Haney doesn’t have the strength to make him respect what he brings and couldn’t stop him from attacking.

Keyshawn’s hitting power and the Crawford-esque fighting style would be a nightmare for Haney if he couldn’t hold him down with a clinch, jab and movement. Some see Keyshawn as the next Crawford and as destined for greatness in the sport. Top Rank feels that way because they put him in the main line and match him well to ensure he doesn’t get beat.

The shine is off

Much of the shine on Haney’s career came off after his loss to Ryan Garcia last April, and he no longer receives the red carpet treatment he once received.

It’s as if Haney is no longer one of royalty, but just a common farmer who works the land and pays the taxes to the King. Haney was even dressed like a slave and did not wear the clothes of one of the upper crust classes. That loss to Ryan really did something to Haney’s standing and the way he’s being treated now.

We saw this last weekend when Haney sparred with promoter Eddie Hearn over tickets to the Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois event at Wembley Stadium. Would this have happened if Haney had beaten Ryan last April? That’s a big no. Haney would have been part of the in-crowd, the celebrity superstar, who would have received first-class treatment.

Keyshawn, the 2020 Olympic silver medalist, feels that much of Haney’s success during his career was due to him being bigger than his opposition at 135 and 140. In many of the fights, Haney looked enormous in the ring after hydrating and seemed to have. does not belong against his petty opponents. Unfortunately, this is how the sport is played now.

Younger fighters, capable of melting off large amounts of water mass, choose to fight in divisions well below their frames. They then somehow find a way to quickly regain 20+ pounds of water. Who knows how they do it, but of course there are ways to game the system.

Until boxing fixes this problem by making secondary weight entries mandatory on the day of the fight, we will continue to see this.

Top-ranked lightweight contender Keyshawn will have to move up to welterweight to fight Haney because that’s where he’s headed.

“I feel like me and Devin Haney would be an easy fight for me. It would be very easy, and I know I would stop Devin Haney,” Keyshawn Davis said Top Rank Boxingdefeated former two-division world champion Haney. “I said that before the Ryan fight. He just has nothing for me.”

If there was a way for Keyshawn to move up to welterweight without losing the power he showed at 135, it would be interesting to see him and Haney square off. It doesn’t seem possible given the weight classes and network issues that stand in the way of this fight.

“You have no power. You got nothing for me to worry about,” Keyshawn said of Haney. “What are you going to do to stop me? With what I came with, I don’t feel like he has anything to stop me. His defense is not that good. I feel like I got better defense than him.

“I know he has fought better opponents than me. So, I give him the benefit of the doubt, but I just feel like I have better defense than him. Yeah, it is, but you have to realize he’s also fought a lot of guys that were smaller than him,” Keyshawn said, responding to Haney’s resume being “tough.”

“A lot of the guys were smaller than him. He said at the weigh-in, “You’re too small.” So, he knew what he was doing, brother. Everyone has that process to get there. I don’t knock what he does,” Davis said.

Haney’s various promoters have done a great job of matching him throughout his career, but all good things must come to an end. It fell apart when he finally met his match against Ryan Garcia, and he now looks like yesterday’s news. It may not be possible to rebuild Haney because he is mentally shaken and can no longer collapse to fight in weight classes below his enormous junior middleweight frame. The gout is up.

“His guys are smarter than him, and it was easy for him to get out of the way. If you’re taller than somebody, more slender, it’s easy to get out of the way and just dodge well and keep it on the outside, which is his game. Size matters, bro. I just feel like he can’t do (anything) with me,” Keyshawn said.

Until Haney’s last fight against Ryan Garcia on April 20, he was bigger than all of his opponents, giving him a tremendous advantage. However, he looked mortal against Ryan and was badly beaten by him. Since that fight, Haney has had the appearance of a former war vet who is mentally not the same after witnessing the horrors of countless battles. That fight took something out of Haney that he can’t forget.