Melbourne: Devin Haney’s rise to the undisputed champion of the world resembles a modern-day Rocky script.
He was 13 years old when he was pulled out of school to make the boxing gym his academic institution. Four years later, still too young to acquire a professional boxing licence from the majority of governing bodies in the United States, Haney crossed the border to debut inside a Tijuana billiards hall. The fight lasted 33 seconds.
Undisputed world champion Devin Haney.Credit:Getty
He returned a week later and repeated the dose, showing little desire to wait for opportunities to come to him despite an abundance of time on his side. When his crowning moment came by way of the World Boxing Council’s lightweight title, he was written off as an email champion. He hadn’t beaten anyone for the belt, so he was easy prey for the critics. Four defences were seemingly not enough for the doubters who said the belt had been handed to Haney on a platter.
Among them was George Kambosos jnr. So, Haney went behind enemy lines to compete for all the marbles, and he flew home with four gold-plated belts to his name.
Now he is back again, this time an overwhelming favourite toiling away in Melbourne gyms before he defends his belts against Kambosos at Rod Laver Arena on Sunday. Haney was so convincing the first time out that most see this weekend’s result as a fait accompli – but taking the foot off the accelerator isn’t in his nature.
“I could not go to the gym today,” Haney said during the closing stages of his camp in Melbourne. “F–k it, I’m going.”
Devin Haney will look to defend his undisputed lightweight championship on Sunday.Credit:Getty
That mentality goes some way towards explaining Haney’s rapid ascension. At just 23, he boasts a perfect 28-0 record – a figure few can match by such a young age in the modern world of boxing.
As he sits behind the WBC, WBO, WBA Super and IBF lightweight titles, it is clear the gambles Haney took on himself paid off. Now he wants to be recognised as one of boxing’s pound-for-pound best.
“I’m a solid all-round fighter, the youngest undisputed champion in boxing, so I should definitely be on the list. It is what it is, my main focus right now is facing George Kambosos,” Haney said.
“The aim of the game is to hit and not get hit. I’m a student of the game so that’s what I follow. I might be one of the best defensive fighters in boxing but on the 16th [of October], I’ll look to show more offence.
“After that, we can talk about the pound-for-pound list.”
Kambosos used to walk around his Sydney schoolyard with his hands wrapped, professing his destiny was to become world champion. Haney’s self-belief was just as strong – if not greater.
He was a teenager with little desire to worry about schoolwork that was only going to take him somewhere he didn’t want to go, so he traded textbooks for left hooks. The only science Haney was learning of was the sweet variety.
Bill Haney knows it was a risk to pull his son out of school and instead send a teenager to boxing gyms to spar seasoned professionals, but it was one he was willing to take when the family moved from Oakland to boxing’s heartbeat in Las Vegas.
Devin Haney poses with his belts.Credit:Getty
While most kids his age were kept busy by video games and street corners, Haney was exchanging blows with two men who had already lifted world titles in Shawn Porter and Zab Judah.
Those sparring sessions held him in good stead for those early nights in Tijuana, where concerns about shady judges meant Haney had to either finish fights by knockout or look damn good on his way to a decision victory.
These formative years did more than train Haney to be a champion, Bill says, they taught him how to “be a world champion” – and there’s a difference.
“These belts represent the world,” Bill said.
“Boxing brings us all together. This is a sport that I encouraged Devin to do because it’s an individual sport, but it would also bring us culturally together as a world. Being a world champion is the way you conduct yourself.
“The stuff they’re doing over there [in the Kambosos camp], my son is going to whip his arse.”
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