Mason, Moton, Zayas & More

Devin Haney already has his safety valve backup option in case things don’t work out with Brian Norman Jr. next month in Riyadh on Turki Alalshikh’s loaded card on November 22nd. He revealed his five-fighter wish list of dream fights that he believes can happen for him.

Targeting the Young Guns

Interestingly, Haney (32-0, 16 KOs) is combing the lightweight division for prospects, looking to fight younger, smaller fighters rather than ones his own size at 154 and 160. It’s a good idea for him to be planning, though, if his fight with WBO welterweight champion Norman Jr. (28-0, 22 KOs) blows up in his face in 23 days. Having backup options against other fighters for a rebuild is an excellent idea.

Lightweights on His Radar

“You’ve got Abdullah Mason,” said Devin Haney to the assembled media today about 135-pounder Abdullah Mason being a possible future fight for him. “You’ve got [lightweight] Curmel [Moton]. It’s young guys coming up. I see them in the rearview.  So, I don’t think that I’m too big because I’ve been in their position before. So, I know they’re on the rise.”

Those two fighters are quite young, and it wouldn’t be fair to them for Haney to pick them before they get a little older. Mason is only 21 and is only starting to cut his teeth on solid opposition. Cumel Moton is 19 and is tiny for the lightweight division at 5’4″. Asking him to fight at welterweight would be a crime. He’s too small to fight in that division without going through a growth spurt to gain some height/

“You never know. One day, it may be a big fight with one of those guys,” said Haney.

If the bottom drops out of Devin’s career with him getting beaten by Norman Jr., and other welterweights, he won’t be useful for the lightweights as mentioned above that he’s eyeing. By the time they move up to welterweight, Haney could be at the journeyman stage if his career sinks.

Vulture Strategy?

It would be more beneficial for Haney to focus on more realistic targets in his own weight class at welterweight rather than being vulture-like, targeting weakened and vulnerable younger opponents.

“Xander Zayas at 154,” said Bill Haney, mentioning a future target for Haney if and when he moves up to junior middleweight against WBO champion Zayas.

Paper Champion Pick

Even the 23-year-old Xander Zayas is low-level prey. He’s viewed as the weakest link among the champions at 154 and is a classic example of a paper champion. It’s not sporting for Haney to pick him as an easy belt to snatch.

If Devin is going to move up junior middleweight, he should show some courage by facing one of these fighters:

• Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis
• Vergil Ortiz Jr.
• Sebastian Fundora
• Abass Baraou
• Erickson Lubin
• Israil Madrimov

“Emiliano, he’s coming up,” said Haney about light welterweight contender Emiliano Vargas. “There are so many big fights that can materialize.

Emiliano Vargas is 21 and has fought no one of note during his short three-year pro career. There are a lot of question marks about whether Emiliano has the talent to beat quality opposition. We know he can beat tomato cans, but can he handle world-class opposition? It’s questionable.