Via Craig Page: Devin Haney shot back at Paulie Malignaggi tonight in response to his prediction that he would take out Vasyl Lomachenko rather than fight him next.
Earlier today, Malignaggi predicted that Haney (29-0.15 KOs) will vacate his undisputed lightweight title rather than go with what Top Rank wants him to do in defense. against Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs) in his next match.
Malignaggi says that Top Rated wants to set up a super pay-per-view battle between Lomachenko and Shakur Stevenson to build their next big star.
The idea was that Lomachenko would defeat Haney with ease, and then Shakur would defeat Loma in a major skirmish on PPV to become the next Top Rank star.
Instead of Haney going into the fight Top Rank wants against Lomachenko, he’ll trade for a solid loss and rise to 140 as an undisputed former lightweight champion.
It’s a good business move by Haney to avoid an almost certain loss against Lomachenko, but in doing so, it will help fans broaden their horizons as to what kind of boxer he has. If Haney was going to avoid Lomachenko, who else would he avoid when moving to 140?
Haney used up two of his three fighting contracts with Top Rated with an easy win over George Kambosos Jr, a weak unified champion.
Top Rated now wants to take Haney uphill with Lomachenko, but he can veto that opinion and go up to 140 for another easy fight.
Obviously, it would be a bad look on Haney’s part to fool Lomachenko, but according to Malignaggi, that’s what he’s going to do.
“I am everything Paulie wanted… he hated me from the start! I don’t avoid or avoid anyone I’ve wanted to fight Loma ever since I was his STARTER! Now Paulina get my D**k out of your mouth,” said Devin Haney above Twitter in response to Malignaggi saying that he is taking out Lomachenko.
Out of all the things Haney said in his rant about Malignaggi, he didn’t say he would fight Lomachenko next.
Haney could have softened what Malignaggi said by saying he would fight Lomachenko, but he didn’t. That means Malignaggi was right about what he said he would turn away from Lomachenko, vacate and move up to 14o.
I said at the beginning that Haney wouldn’t want to fight Lomachenko. He will defeat the Kambosos because those are easy battles. afterward he will vacate those titles and move up to 140 weight,” Malignaggi said on Pauly TV.
“I would have predicted that he would leave his titles blank because it was better for him in terms of business. No problem, he will duck Lomachenko. “
“We got a shot from Devin Haney and crew. I don’t feel like I hate Devin Haney,” Malignaggi told Pauly TVreacted to Haney’s Twitter reply after he predicted earlier today that Devin would vacate his titles rather than fight Lomachenko.
“I want him in more 50-50 skirmishes, some skirmishes that pose a threat to him if we call him a champion. I have no problem with him not hitting 50-50 skirmishes before.
“Haney calls himself a champion, but he’s fighting guys you wouldn’t fight in world titles. I guess we have to go back to the beginning. Haney said he would never lose to a white boy, and it all started from there.
“I might have to bake Devin Haney because I have to tell you straight away that I’ve always avoided because I like Devin Haney in so many ways.
“I don’t like him knocking out fighters better than him before he gets there, like Lomachenko and Teofimo Lopez, who fought against extraordinary opposition at a very young age and won the world title. legal world.
“He [Haney] brought down all these guys, and he’s always fighting guys we’ve never heard of. In a way, it’s not a coincidence that you keep calling out all the names we’ve never heard of your opponent, that’s the situation we’re dealing with, Devin Haney, at the time.
“He talked about Lomachenko and Teofimo Lopez at the time they had the belts, but then he signed a contract to fight guys that no one knew who they were.
“I looked at Devin Haney, and he was more like Paulie Malignaggi than Floyd Mayweather. He looks no different than Floyd Mayweather fought during his prime. Floyd Mayweather fought among 500 different looks with a mutant style that most boxers can’t understand.
“Haney fights in a particular way. First, he will rush in, perform counterattacks, punches and kicks and uses his legs. Keep the fight as simple as possible, unless you have to complicate it.
“Linares, that is your most notable opponent, Jorge Linares,” Malignaggi said.
