Devin Haney Agrees With Floyd Mayweather: ‘There Are Too Many Belts’
Devin Haney is in agreement with Floyd Mayweather.
Haney is the WBC Lightweight Champion but he doesn’t appear to get the credit that usually comes with being a world champion. This is due to the fact that rather than vacating his gold, Vasiliy Lomachenko was given the “Franchise” label. When Lomachenko lost his WBA (Super), WBC (Franchise), and WBO gold to IBF Champion Teofimo Lopez, “The Takeover” was recognized as the undisputed lightweight champion.
This is part of the reason why Mayweather lashed out at the sanctioning bodies for creating multiple titles in order to hand out sanctioning fees. Speaking to Fight Hype, Haney sided with Mayweather (via BoxingScene.com).
“I don’t think that [Mayweather Jr.] told a lie. There are too many belts. That’s the problem, in the lightweight division. When people have mandatories, they make a whole new belt for guys to duck and get out of a fight. I definitely agree with [Mayweather Jr.].”
Haney went on to say that it doesn’t make sense to him that people thought Mayweather was targeting him with the comments.
“When Floyd said that, people were coming at me. But I’m just like, ‘I agree!’ … I was the mandatory, I didn’t ask for [the WBC] franchise belt, I never asked for another belt. I wanted to fight the mandatory [Lomachenko]. I worked my way [to Lomachenko] … That’s not my fault. Top Rank and Loma asked for the [WBC Franchise belt]. I would never ask for a Franchise title. If I were to fight Lopez, I would not petition to fight for the Franchise title. That’s not my thing. That’s not something I’m interested in because I want to make the best fights happen.”
Haney is scheduled to defend his WBC gold against Yuriorkis Gamboa on November 7. It’ll be Haney’s first bout since November 9, 2019.