Keyshawn Davis and Shakur Stevenson turning down Devin Haney fight; are they both ducking him?

Every time I've seen Stevenson talk about Haney he's been very clear about the catchweight. That he won't jump two full weight classes from the one he sees as his best at the moment isn't very surprising.

 

I tend to agree. There is a a risk/reward calculation which goes into making these fights.
But I will say that if my confidence is thru the roof, I'll take whatever knowing that I'll be the man afterward.

 

You are a bit obsessed with fighting home/away even though that has no relevance here.

In the clip Shakur says Haney can rehydrate to whatever if he faces hiö at 140. Never heard Haney agree to that.

That he would face Benn at 154 is just from a second hand source, not Shakur directly. What I heard him say is that he'd face Benn at 147 but with a rehydration clause, as Benn had against Eubank.

 

Speculation of what country they would or would not fight in is completely beside the point here.

My bad, there was a video with him.and he did say 154 for Benn. That seems like a bit of hot air. Let's see if he ever follows through.

But for Haney he's kept to no higher than 144, which would be his highest weight so far. I see no duck there. I never think a fighter has to move up. Face the best in his weight class, yes, but not in higher. Doing so is a bonus.

That goes for Davies, too, but demanding 5 mil net just makes him looks bad. Saying he will stay at 140 for now would of course be alright.

 

I know its an unpopular take but I enjoy watching all 3 fighters and find them among the most talented active boxers

That said, I hate all the bull**** antics outside the ring and the hurdles to making fights. These guys all should have fought each other by now.

I will say Haney called out Teo for a long time and Teo seemed totally uninterested, Haney wanted Lomachenko and settled for the emailed belt but then fought him anyway, called out and fought Ryan Garcia. He went up to 147 and fought a hard punching champion that not many others were willing to call out and Haney fought and beat him. I don't think Haney is the problem here

 

I was hoping Shakur would have made a bigger splash after beating Teo. He dominated him in a big event and I feel like that is the win that opens doors for bigger fights. Its been eight months or so and no announcements

 

Stevenson is from the US and it makes no finacial sense for him to fight in another country. So it's hard to compare.

He certainly gave up size when he fought Lopez at 140. He'd give up even more against Haney at 144, but Haney only wants 147 as far as I know.

Right now Davies seems like the only interesting option for Shakur under 147, and neither of them wants that due to their friendship, so he will probably have to move up to 147 sooner or later.

 

I don't at all know that they wouldn't. Fighters from smaller countries almost always fight away. Don't understand what the fuss is about. The Klits didn't fight in Ukraine either. They moved to Germany and made that their base.

No Swede hardly ever ever fights in Sweden. Not about to make saints of them for that. They fight where the money is. Ingo defended against Patterson in the US. Means nothing to anyone.

Shakur and Teo did not at all look the same size to me, And Stevenson says he's comfortable at 135 while Lopez is loooking to move to 147. I don't think Lopez could make 135 today.

 

Honestly the most egregious duck i’ve ever seen…

Like how do you get ALL your demands met from weight to purse and still call the fight off? They probably just knew haney was too tough for the amount of gain and kept running their mouths.

Sad because keyshawn had a great chance to break into the mainstream off of a haney win.

 

That would be the attitude of many who aren't in that situation, but the truth of the matter is, regardless of confidence, we have too many examples in history of this sport of our most talented putting their health and lives on the line while someone else benefits financially. Many of the people participating in this sport are coming from a struggle of some sort and they often carry the burden on not only changing their own life but their family and maybe even their community. So sometimes even if they have all the confidence in the world, they want to make sure they are accommodated on the reward side since they are taking all the risk.

Also, there are individuals that they legally are tied to who will make sure their portion of the pie is taken care of. Most of these fighters don't know the business especially at the start. When they figure it out it's usually after they've realized how much money they've walked away from while someone more knowledgeable of the business side, gladly picked up.

Think of all the fighter who have taken their promoters/managers/advisors to court in attempt at gaining something that they ignorantly signed over to that individual. Truthfully, the real fight for these gladiators is done outside of the ring. Many of those guys see being in the ring as the easy part, because they know what they are doing.

You guys like Floyd Mayweather, Terence Crawford, etc...who took control of their careers in the ladder halves of it a you see how they were able to flourish financially as compared to win someone else was making the decision. Then you have greats like Ali, Tyson, etc....who NEVER really got all of what they were worth because of they man they were trusting to handle the business side while they go to the gym to prepare to deliver.

It's rather sad, honestly.