Haney claims “A-Side” as he brushes off Conor Benn fight

Bill Haney says Devin Haney will “the A side” if there is a fight between him and Conor Benn. When asked about his interest in a fight between Benn and Devin (33-0, 15 KOs), Bill brushed it off, questioning why Conor isn’t fighting guys at 168, 160 and 154 instead of targeting his son.

(Credit: Queensberry/Leigh Dawney)

70 punches, big problems

Bill has made it clear he’s not keen on Benn fighting Devin, which is understandable after how weak Dev looked in his 12-round unanimous decision victory over WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. last Saturday night at the ANB Arena in Riyadh.

Devin’s decay exposed

Haney looked like a shell-shocked fighter throughout most of the fight, holding steady, throwing almost no punches after the first two rounds. He just landed 70 of 271 thrown, for a 25.8% strikeout rate. The performance showed that Devin is not the same fighter he once was before his loss to Ryan Garcia last year on April 20, 2024.

The 70 is the same poor number that Haney landed in his fight against Jose Ramirez on May 2, 2025, and it was an equally abysmal effort from him.

“So, are there champions at 160? Why isn’t he fighting the champions at 168?” said Bill Haney Fight Hub TV when asked about his thoughts on a fight between Conor Benn and Devin Haney happening next.

Bill doesn’t sound like he wants Benn to face Devin, and you can understand why. Dev can no longer pull the trigger on his shots. He looked terrified last night against Norman Jr., and he had the same look against Ramirez. In those two fights, Haney either held or ran.

Bill’s A-Side Bluff

“Why not 160? Why not 154? I’m talking about Conor Benn. So, he’s going to go from 160 to 154 to 147? He’s going to skip all those people? Look, there’s got to be some bad money pulling at 147 pounds, since you’re going to do all that. We are the A side. I will talk to you more on that later,” Bill said before hastily fleeing the interview.

It was a clear message from Bill that Conor Benn is not in Devin’s plans for his next fight. If it’s going to be a payoff against Ryan Garcia, it’s understandable why he’d want to go in that direction. Devin doesn’t look capable of beating anyone well at welterweight.

Who can actually face Haney

Turki Alashikh is going to want value for Haney’s next fight if he is going to be on one of his Riyadh season cards. That means he’ll probably want to fight one of these guys:

• Ryan Garcia
• Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis
• Teofimo Lopez
• Vergil Ortiz Jr