Devin Haney says if he prevails in his fight against undefeated WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. on Saturday night, he will be worthy of a high position on the pound-for-pound list.
Haney (32-0, 16 KOs) says he was ranked on the P4P list when he fought Ryan Garcia, but was removed after his loss. For the record, he was rated #6 after beating Vasily Lomachenko and Regis Prograis in back-to-back fights.
Norman’s thin record
The problem with Haney’s belief that a win over Norman Jr. (28-0, 22 KOs) would put him on the top 10 P4P list is that he is not ranked on it. In addition, Norman Jr. beat no significant opposition during his career, but he was elevated to the WBO welterweight title.
Haney isn’t saying who he needs to replace on the list to earn a top-10 spot. How he looked in his fights against Jose Ramirez, Ryan Garcia and Vasily Lomachenko it’s not quite pound-for-pound material, is it?
The Ring Magazine Pound-for-Pound (P4P) Top 10
- Terence Crawford
- Oleksandr Usyk
- Naoya Inoue
- Dmitry Bivol
- Artur Beterbiev
- Jesse Rodriguez
- Junto Nakatani
- Shakur Stevenson
- David Benavidez
- Canelo Alvarez
Fans would laugh at Devin if he were to argue that he deserves to be rated by fans above Canelo, Benavidez, Shakur, Nakatani, ‘Bam’ Rodriguez, Beterbiev, Bivol, Inoue or Usyk. It would make Ring Magazine look bad if they gave him a high ranking.
P4P politics at stake
Fans are already criticizing their rankings as political for putting Crawford above Usyk at #1 on the P4P list. But bumping one of the top 10 from the list to include Haney would be just as bad.
“With the Ryan (Garcia) fight, I got knocked off the pound-for-pound list, or at least some people’s list. But I think it’s a fight that will put me back on this list, high on that list,” Devin Haney said. Ring Magazine about his belief that by Saturday the WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. to beat, he would be worthy of being added to the pound-for-pound list.
Which Haney actually has to do
For Haney to be added to the P4P list, he will have to do more than beat Norman Jr. to beat This will be a good start for him, but he will need to put together some solid performances in a row. He didn’t do it.
Prerequisite wins needed by Haney for P4P consideration
- Brian Norman Jr.
- Jaron Ennis
- Gary Antoine Russell
- Teofimo Lopez
In Haney’s last four fights, he had three lackluster performances in which he must have had two defeats. A 2-2 record in his last four fights is not P4P worthy.
- Jose Ramirez: Win – 12-round unanimous decision
- Ryan Garcia: Loss – 12 round majority decision
- Regis Prograis: Win – 12-round unanimous decision
- Vasily Lomachenko: Win – (controversial) 12-round unanimous decision
“It will show the type of fighter I am. I’m fighting the best guy at 147 in my first fight. I didn’t make any adjustments or look to find the easiest guy to win a world title,” Haney said. “I went and challenged the best guy. It’s just a pound-for-pound fighter. It’s a pound-for-pound champion.”
