Devin Haney is confident he’ll use his experience to display the separation between Brian Norman Jr and himself.
Devin Haney sits down for an interview with Ring Magazine to discuss his upcoming welterweight title fight with Brian Norman Jr., how he’s acclimating to welterweight, dealing with criticism from his last performance and more. Check out some excerpts of what Haney had to say below.
Haney on facing Norman
“I’m excited to be three division champion, God willing. Brian Norman, he’s just another opponent, another stepping stone. But I’m excited, he’s the best guy in the 147 lb division so when I beat him that makes me the best.
“He’s put on good performances but he’s put on performances against guys we’ve never heard of. I do not know one person on his resume. We know that Top Rank has the best matchmakers in the game and they’ve showed that time and time again. I think that’s what his resume shows — guys that he’s supposed to knock out, he’s supposed to do that to, he’s been doing it.
“I’m going to show that I’m levels above him. I’ve been fighting these guys at the top level, the best of the best fighters in the world for some time now. He hasn’t. I’m the first guy at the top that he’s fought. Other than that, I genuinely know one person that he’s beat.”
On fighting at welterweight
“I feel good. Obviously I haven’t done the exact fight yet at 147, my last fight was at a catchweight and I feel great…I feel like I’ll be much stronger and I won’t have to focus on weight.”
On dealing with criticism for his fight with Jose Ramirez
“It comes with it. First they say ‘oh, he repeatedly gets hit with left hands.’ Against Regis Prograis I didn’t get hit with one left hand. Then they say ‘he gets hit with left hooks, he’s a sucker for a left hook,’ then I go inside the Ramirez fight and I don’t get hit with no left hooks. And then they say ‘he’s running.’ So they always going to say something but I just got to keep beating who they put in front of me and they going to keep making new guys and just keep lining them up.”