Devin Haney looks set for a welterweight unification fight against Rolando Romero.
That is according to his father and trainer, Bill Haney, who this week confirmed the fight would go ahead in Las Vegas on May 30. Should that be the case, the 147lb ranks will go from four champions to three, with the winner leaving the arena with both the WBA and WBO belts.
‘Rolly’ Romero was elevated to full WBA champion after beating Ryan Garcia for the interim belt last year. Haney, in his divisional debut, defeated hard-hitting Brian Norman Jr handily to take the WBO and become a three-weight world champion.
Speaking to FightHype, former multi-weight ruler Roy Jones Jr backed Haney quite clearly, though did warn of Romero’s ‘abnormal’ power, making a rare comparison to British enigma ‘Prince’ Naseem Hamed.
“Rolly’s only chance is if he can get lucky and hit Haney, which I doubt he can do. I think Haney beats him, but Rolly does have a puncher’s chance. What people fail to realise is Rolly is not your everyday, average boxer, but he has abnormal punching power. He hits anybody, he can knock them out. He’s like Prince Naseem, just not quite as skillful as Prince Naseem. Same kind of punching power, though.
“His boxing IQ ain’t the best, that’s why they underestimate him, but his punching power is beyond best. It’s abnormal … It makes it kind of balance out.”
Romero’s confidence will be boosted by the fact that when Haney faced Garcia, he was dropped three times and suffered a points loss on the night. However, the result was later overturned to a no contest after Garcia tested positive for a banned substance.
The winner of this match-up, should Bill Haney’s assurance come good, sets up a rematch with Garcia, who won the WBC belt from Mario Barrios last month.