Ellis warns that Haney’s extra muscle can be used against Norman Jr

By Graham Ilford: Trainer Kenny Ellis says the extra muscle Devin Haney is “putting on all at once” for his fight with WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. may give him a “little” more energy for their November 22 fight.

Too much muscle, too fast?

Kenny says the extra muscle weight may not give Haney (32-0, 16 KOs) the energy he needs to win because he puts it on in one camp rather than building up slowly. As for weight, he says that Haney is cutting less weight as he already weighed above 147 even when he was campaigning at 135.

He would look huge after rehydrating for his fights at lightweight against naturally smaller fighters, such as Vasily Lomachenko, George Kambosos Jr., Jorge Linares and Yuriorkis Gamboa.

Ellis picks Norman Jr. (28-0, 22 KOs) to prevail in their co-fight against former two-division world champion Haney on November 22nd. on DAZN PPV at the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

He believes that Norman Jr’s power will play a role in this contest as there will be exchanges between them. Haney can’t move for 12 rounds without exchanging with Brian Jr. That’s where Kenny predicts that he will get into trouble because Norman Jr. have power in both hands.

Not really moving up in weight

“He’s not moving up in weight. He’s just cutting less because he always walks around heavier than 147. Instead of cutting down to 135, he’s cutting down to 147,” trainer Kenny Ellis said. MillCity Boxing about Devin Haney not really moving up in weight in his first fight at the border of the welterweight division against WBO champion Brian Norman Jr. on November 22nd.

Many fans have felt in the past that Haney should have fought at welterweight three years ago when he was at lightweight, and he looked huge after dropping down to 135. He looked skeletal and zombie-like at the weigh-in.

Middleweight on Fight Night

Welterweight is where he always should have been. It will be interesting to see how Devin performs now that he is at the full 147-lb weight, although he will not weigh in on November 22nd. He’ll probably be in the 160s after he rehydrates.

Devin will be a full size middleweight on the night and have a significant weight advantage over Norman jr. have. He will look massive inside the ring.

Why Norman Jr. has the edge

“He might have a little more energy. But then again, he’s putting on so much muscle at one time that he might have less energy because he’s going to need it,” Ellis said of Haney. “I like to lean on the puncher. Now, if Devin was a boxer-puncher, that would be different. But in this case he’s just a boxer.”

Veteran boxing columnist Graham Ilford brings dry humor and long-deserved perspective to the sport.