Haney Claims “A-Side” While Brushing Off Conor Benn Fight

Bill Haney says Devin Haney will be “the A-side” if there’s a fight between him and Conor Benn. When asked about his interest in a fight between Benn and Devin (33-0, 15 KOs), Bill brushed it off, questioning why Conor isn’t fighting guys at 168, 160, and 154 instead of targeting his son.

(Credit: Queensberry/Leigh Dawney)

70 Punches, Big Problems

Bill made it evident that he’s not eager for Benn to fight Devin, which is understandable after how poor Dev looked in his 12-round unanimous decision win over WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. last Saturday night at the ANB Arena in Riyadh.

Devin’s Decline Exposed

Haney looked like a shell-shocked fighter throughout most of the fight, holding constantly, throwing almost no punches after the first two rounds. He only landed 70 of 271 thrown, for a 25.8% connect rate. The performance showed that Devin isn’t the same fighter that he once was before his loss to Ryan Garcia last year on April 20, 2024.

The 70 is the same poor number that Haney landed in his bout against Jose Ramirez on May 2, 2025, and that was an equally abysmal effort from him.

“So, are there champions at 160? Why is he not fighting the champions at 168?” said Bill Haney to Fight Hub TV when asked about his thoughts on a fight between Conor Benn and Devin Haney to happen next.

Bill doesn’t sound like he wants Benn to face Devin, and you can understand why. Dev can’t pull the trigger on his shots anymore. He looked terrified last night against Norman Jr., and he had the same look against Ramirez. In those two fights, Haney was either holding or running.

Bill’s A-Side Bluff

“Why not 160? Why not 154? I’m talking about Conor Benn. So, he’s going to go from 160 to 154 to 147? He’s going to skip all those people? Listen, there must be some bad money drawing at 147 pounds, being that you’re going to do all that. We are the A-side. I’ll talk to you about it later,” said Bill before fleeing the interview in a hurry.

This was a clear message from Bill that Conor Benn is not in Devin’s plans for his next fight. If this is going to be a cash-out against Ryan Garcia, it’s understandable why he’d want to go in that direction. Devin doesn’t look capable of beating anyone good at welterweight.

Who Haney Can Actually Face

Turki Alalashikh is going to want value for Haney’s next fight if he’s going to be on one of his Riyadh Season cards. That means he’s likely going to want him to fight one of these guys:

• Ryan Garcia
• Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis
• Teofimo Lopez
• Vergil Ortiz Jr