Is Devin Haney Underestimating Brian Norman? 

New York – Devin Haney and Brian Norman Jr. attended the Ring IV Press Conference in New  York this past weekend, and the day prior to the presser, they had an altercation that went viral on social media. The video clip shows Haney’s bodyguard placing his hands on Norman and his team. At the press conference ,they were less hostile, but the tension was still there.

This will be Devin’s first fight at welterweight, and he’s chosen a fight against the hard-hitting Norman. “I think it’s one-sided. I’m going in there and handicap him. I know he has power. We all know they got power, but against guys we’ve never seen before. We’ve never heard of these guys before. So, I will show him that, you know power is good. Muscle is good. It’s a muscle. He got a lot of muscles, but muscles don’t win fights at this high level. At the best of the best, it doesn’t matter how much muscles you got, how much power you got, I will show him,” said Haney of Norman’s power.

Although Devin may not admit it, he could potentially choose to employ a similar strategy to the one he utilized against Jose Ramirez, using constant lateral movement to evade punches. This would minimize his exposure to Norman’s power punches. Devin won the match against  Ramirez, but it was not a fan-friendly fight. Many were disappointed with the performance.

Shakur Stevenson, who has also received similar criticism in the past, decided to engage more against William Zepeda this past Saturday, making for a very entertaining match. He trolled Turki Alalshikh by wearing a Tom and Jerry hat to the ring, as it was Turki who made the statement that Riyadh Season would no longer support those kinds of fights. Shakur won the match but took more damage than he normally takes. Zepeda landed 272 punches, which is the  most landed by a Stevenson opponent.

Haney will seek to achieve a healthy balance of in-and-out movement to make the fight aesthetically pleasing and not expose himself to unneeded punishment. Devin may, however, be underestimating the WBO welterweight champion by believing he’s not as skillful as him.

“It don’t matter. I’m levels above this guy, it doesn’t matter what weight we get it at 140, 145, 143,  147. It don’t matter. I’m levels above him,” said Haney when asked about his move up to welterweight. This is Devin’s first fight at 147, a weight with bigger punchers, and he’s fighting one of the biggest punchers in the division, Brian.

It could be a mistake to think Norman isn’t capable of being competitive against him. The last opponent Haney underestimated was Ryan Garcia, and although the outcome of that match was overturned, giving Norman the opportunity to land similar punches to the ones landed by Ryan could prove costly. The best thing to do would be to respect Norman’s skill and not think he is easily beatable.

The match is the co-main event on the Ring IV card set for November 22 in Saudi Arabia. The stacked card  will feature the following matches:

• David Benavidez vs. Anthony Yarde
• Devin Haney vs. Brian Norman Jr.
• Abdullah Mason vs. Sam Noakes
• Jesse Rodriguez vs. Fernando Martinez
• Devin Haney vs. Brian Norman Jr. Face Off