Devin Haney controlled the action against Jojo Diaz to score a unanimous decision. A unification bout against George Kambosos Jr. could be next.
Devin Haney was in with a live challenger in former champion Jojo Diaz on Saturday, Dec. 4, but Haney’s boxing carried him to a decisive decision victory.
From their first press conference, Haney and Diaz showed respect for each other’s abilities, but also some bad blood and disdain at the same time. Diaz was a titlist as a super featherweight but he gave away size to the taller and longer-armed Haney.
Size made a difference in Haney vs. Diaz, as did boxing stance. Diaz (32-2-1, 15 KOs) is a southpaw, and he had a hard time getting inside of Haney’s long left jab. Diaz had his moments, but they were too few and far between.
Haney (27-0, 15 KOs) boxed a clean fight against Diaz. He worked behind the jab and wisely concentrated on Diaz’s body. There were times when Haney’s punches strayed low, and the referee warned him in round 9 for low blows, but Haney adjusted his trajectory and scored cleanly from then on.
Devin Haney boxed patiently and focused against Jojo Diaz to win the fight on every judges’ scorecard
Diaz had flashes of greatness in rounds 4 and 7, but he couldn’t keep his momentum and surrendered most of the rounds to Haney. Diaz told FanSided in a November media call that he felt stronger as a lightweight, but his punches weren’t able to put a dent in Haney’s armor.
Haney appeared to stun Diaz a few times in the fight with right uppercuts up the center, but Diaz took most of his punches well.
The fight went all 12 rounds, and the judges scored the fight 116-112 and 117-111 twice, all for Haney. Haney is a talented boxer with solid all-around skills but lacks the x-factor to be considered great. He’s still young at 23, but he would struggle against a fighter like Gervonta Davis.
Haney wants a full unification bout with Geroge Kambosos Jr., who defeated Teofimo Lopez last week to win the WBA, WBO, and IBF lightweight titles. Haney holds the WBC belt, and Kambosos seems interested but expect him to demand a fight in his home country of Australia.
All Haney has to do is agree to that stipulation, and a lightweight megafight in Australia could be in the making.