By Declan Taylor
IT IS simply earlier than noon when two massive safety guards rock up at the Las Vegas eatery the place Devin Haney is because of sit down for lunch.
They hold round by the door of the non-public room primarily, trying not a lot out of place however quick of concepts with out their 5ft 8in asset in the neighborhood.
Not lengthy after, Bill Haney, the father-trainer, arrives and takes a seat for meals however it’s one other jiffy earlier than the son enters the room and shakes fingers with everybody earlier than settling down for a day of speaking about preventing.
A plate of cubed melon seems at his small desk however he doesn’t appear too considering consuming it, despite the fact that he has a couple of further kilos to play with as the super-lightweight division’s latest star.
“I haven’t done the weight cut yet and you never know what it will be like until you actually do it,” he says. “But I’m excited to see how I really feel at the new weight.
“I always feel great in sparring, much stronger and faster than I do in fights because of how much the cut to 135 takes out of me.”
But this week he can cease the minimize at 10 stone as he prepares to tackle most likely the division’s most established title, Regis Prograis, at the Chase Center. The New Orleans native is presently ranked No.1 in the world in the division so Haney, who has now vacated all his titles at light-weight, had no intention of easing his method into the new division.
“I think the fight week will be much more comfy,” he provides. “More time to relax and just chill. I’m used to having to stress about the weight, just cutting, cutting, cutting. And be just weak. I think now it will be different.”
What can even be completely different for Haney is preventing, for the first time, in the Bay Arena. The 25-year-old was born in San Francisco however spent a lot of his childhood and adolescence in Las Vegas. Now he returns house as one of his sport’s main lights.
“I was eight when I first came to Vegas but I was back and forth to the Bay,” Haney explains. “I lived in a couple of completely different locations however I used to be born in San Francisco however I’m from Oakland.
“I definitely feel like this fight can open the market up there, for me at least, because I’m from there. We don’t really have much there. We’ve got the Golden State Warriors and the 49ers but the Athletics have gone to Vegas. We don’t really have much there. I definitely think it could be a huge market for me – and the world will see.”
Devin Haney poses at the Golden Gate Bridge (Ed Mulholland/Matchroom)
When he turned skilled in 2015, Haney was simply 17 and subsequently too younger to field in the States. Instead he minimize his enamel in Tijuana, Mexico, boxing and successful 4 occasions earlier than he made his American debut in the March of 2016. It has been a gradual climb ever since, with outings again in Tijuana but in addition Melbourne, New York and Philadelphia amongst different territories. Never, nonetheless, in his actual house.
“The Chase Center is across the Bay from where I’m from but still feels like it’s going to be a dream come true,” Haney says.
“I all the time dreamed of going again house to struggle in entrance of my household and pals. There’s rather a lot of my household who’ve by no means been to any of my fights but as a result of they couldn’t afford to return to Vegas or no matter it is perhaps, some are sick to allow them to’t journey. It’s a blessing that I’m in a position to return house, struggle in entrance of my household and pals and for as soon as not get booed.
“My family being there doesn’t bring pressure but it brings excitement. There will be a lot of people supporting me and not booing me.”
It is true that regardless of a squeaky-clean picture and a definite lack of trash speak, Haney has had a blended reception from crowds over the previous few years. It was to be anticipated in Melbourne when going through Australian George Kambosos however it has occurred in Vegas too, when he boxed Vasyl Lomachenko at the MGM Grand.
“I’ve been getting booed my last couple of fights,” he nods. “I don’t know why but it just comes with the territory, you know. I didn’t think I was going to get booed in my last fight but I did. When you get in the ring you don’t even hear it so it doesn’t matter.”
So would he ever lean into it and flip full heel like Floyd Mayweather in his ‘Money’ days?
“Nah because I want to just stay myself,” he responds. “That’s not likely me so I don’t wish to change and placed on this persona like I’m any individual else. People can see via that, they will see via the facade so I simply wish to keep being me. He’s the dangerous man on this struggle.
You see how he was speaking in the promo, he was speaking loopy, like he’s the dangerous man. I used to be simply being good.”
It is recommended to 25-year-old Haney that Prograis, 9 years’ his senior, would possibly try and previous man him throughout the promotion and then additionally in the struggle. But the fact is, that is outing No.31 for each males and it’s Haney who has been concerned in additional championship fights over the course of his profession.
“Maybe he might try to do that but we know that I’m the guy with the experience here,” Haney says. “I do know he’s going to strive and come and land the left hand, that’s the solely recreation plan that he has. He’s very flat-footed, one dimensional too. All of that’s there for me to take advantage of.
“I don’t necessarily feel like an old head but I definitely feel like I’m a young vet in the game. I’ve still got a long career ahead of me but I accomplished a lot at a young age. I got an early start and next year will be 10 years a pro for me but really I still feel like this is only the beginning for me, I’ve still got a lot more to do in the sport of boxing.”
Given his early begin to life as a professional, it’s put to Haney that he would possibly find yourself retiring, together with his job finished, a lot youthful than some of his friends will. The Dream, whose focus is now drifting to not the melon however to his telephone on the desk, all of the sudden locks again in the dialog.
“I love what I do,” he says trying up. “I did this without spending a dime for therefore lengthy. I didn’t receives a commission till my nineteenth struggle. It was 17-0, 18-0, preventing without spending a dime. I didn’t see one greenback. We had been doing it independently and trusting in the course of. That’s one more reason why I really feel God has blessed me a lot to be on this place as a result of I did it without spending a dime for therefore lengthy. I like what I do, I did it without spending a dime and I might nonetheless do it without spending a dime. This is greater than a job.
“I’m still young, I got plenty more to go and way more things to accomplish so I don’t want to think about the end yet.”
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