Undisputed lightweight titleholder Devin Haney catches up with Marcos Villegas of Fight Hub TV to give his take on the recently announced fight between Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Ryan Garcia, and where this currently stand with his proposed fight against Vasiliy Lomachenko. Check out some excerpts of what Haney had to say below.
Haney on the Tank vs Garcia matchup
“I think it’s a good fight. Ryan has the height, the length, the speed, but Tank has that power, that neutralizer. (Tank) has the experience, he’s been tested, been proven, so it’s a good fight. The safe bet would be Tank but you cannot count Ryan out as well.”
On why he thinks Garcia has a real chance to win
“He has speed, he has power, and I don’t think that he’s scared. I think that he’s coming in there to win and we’ve seen Tank go down in rounds and come back with a knockout. But we haven’t seen what he can do when he can’t (force the stoppage) against a puncher he can’t just sleep on.
“If Tank was to go blow him out of the water, we wouldn’t be surprised.”
On wanting to face the winner of Tank vs Garcia
“Yeah. But it all starts with Loma and once I’m victorious there, the winner we will look to face.”
On where things stand in his negotiations to face Lomachenko
“Yeah, the fight’s definitely gonna happen. It’s just, we’re trying to see where, we’re trying to pick a site for it. It might be here (in Saudi) or it might be in Vegas. But one of those two places. Definitely gonna happen, May 20th is the date.”
On wanting a fight with Lomachenko for a long time and now being in the championship position where Loma has to come for him
“Tables turn. For a long time Loma wouldn’t even say my name. At one point I didn’t even think Loma knew me because he wouldn’t say my name. Like literally, I really didn’t think he knew me because he wouldn’t say my name. And then eventually things started turning, tables started turning, and here we are. Now I’m giving Loma a shot when I don’t have to. When it was his turn and he didn’t have to, he didn’t.
“But it’s different because I want to show the world my skills and I want to take on the best fighters in the world, I’ve been saying this for a while…now it’s another chance for me to showcase it.”
On if he believes Lomachenko is on the decline in his career
“They say that now because he had a bad performance. But one performance don’t define you. We’re not studying Loma just off his last performance, we’re studying all his fights, his best performances, his worst performances — we’re studying him all around. One performance does not define you. And he was coming out of a war…a lot it took to make that fight happen and he was victorious against a young, hungry lion like Jamaine Ortiz.
“We’re expecting the best Lomachenko on May 20 and the best Devin Haney will show up that night.”