In a recent tweet 140lb WBC world champion Devin Haney announced he will be taking time out of the ring. Haney said, “Ima take some time.. spend some of my money.. travel the world & I’ll b back in two years after Ryan suspension & we can fight again”. This tweet follows the beating Ryan Garcia handed Haney and all the controversy surrounding that. Namely Garcia missing weight so being unable to win the belt and Garcia failing pre-fight PED tests popping for Ostarine.
The Benefits Haney’s Hiatus
Now this is very interesting. Haney is supposed to be having a fight against his mandatory Sandor Martin. In fact yesterday according to Mike Coppinger Top Rank won the rights to the purse bid for Haney vs Martin. So, it’s unclear if he’ll take the Martin fight then disappear or if he just won’t go through with the Martin fight. We shall see later down the line if this fight falls through or not.
Regardless if he fights Martin or not having a mini retirement is bold. Many are quick to say that this is a terrible idea however not necessarily. Haney is only 25 still very young and if he takes those 2 years out he’ll return at 27 still quite young. So, while something like this could be detrimental to older fighters for younger guys it can help. The time off can give Haney time to work on his craft to improve and let his body fill out.
Devin Haney is known for his massive weight cuts. If you look at his last few weigh ins at 135 he looked like a corpse very drawn out and gaunt. At 140 he looks better physically however he’s still cutting a decent amount. So with the time off he can let his body fill out and either grow into 140 more or move up a weight class or two. The time off also just lets his body recover generally.
The time out could also help with motivation. Many fighters who started boxing from an early age like Haney as their careers go on can struggle to stay motivated and disciplined. Examples of this include Mike Tyson or Naseem Hamed. So with the time out Haney can enjoy himself a bit having a sort of sabbatical then come back rejuvenated .
The Implications of Haney’s Hiatus
Haney’s time off can mean many things. For one it could just mean he wants to take some time out and enjoy himself as the tweet suggests. Or it could mean that Haney has been shaken by the Garcia loss. The loss to Garcia is Devin’s only official loss and was a bad one many argue he lost to Lomachenko as well but officially he still won. The main difference between this and the Loma fight is Lomachenko never dropped Haney.
Garcia dropped Haney multiple times in their fight who prior to this had never touched the canvas in the pros. This can be really damaging for a fighters confidence particularly a previously undefeated fighter. So, the time off could be a sign that Haney is lacking confidence at the moment. However, knowing that Ryan was juicing could reduce that damage.
Haney if he goes through with the time off could have big implications for the 140lb title picture. If Haney stays inactive his world title should be vacated and in that scenario it’s up for grabs. There’s Haney’s mandatory Sandor Martin who is number 1 in the WBC and the WBC interim champ Alberto Puello. so those two may fight for the vacant title or Puello will be elevated.
The Belt Situation
Puello himself only recently became interim champ with an upset victory over Gary Antuanne Russel. Puello is also a former world champion previously holding the WBA Super world title. He himself has been vocal on twitter calling out Haney arguing Haney shouldn’t be champion due to the Garcia loss. He also references the situation with Martin. Although with the WBC you never know what will happen. They are notoriously lax with enforcing mandatories and stripping inactive champs just ask David Benavidez.
If Haney actually intends on taking a break then the WBC should strip him and either elevate Puello or have him fight for the full belt against someone. So we may end up with a new WBC champ relatively soon. But, the WBC may take their time enforcing that as they do with everything. However, if the WBC actually do their job things could get interesting.
Assuming Puello is elevated we could see another new breathe of life into the 140lb division. After the loss to Garcia people struggled to take Haney serious as champion regardless that Garcia was overweight and on PEDS. So, having a champion who kept the title on a technicality will help out the division. We have also had other new champions such as Liam Paro who defeated Subriel Matias to become the IBF champ and Isaac Cruz deating Rolly Romero to become WBA champ. So, with these new eager champions we may have a greater likelihood of seeing unifications
We shall see if Haney does indeed take a break or if this is just talk over the following months and the potential fallout. In the meantime we can look forward to the rest of the 140lb heating up.
Featured image credit to Embed from Getty Images
