Devin Haney says he’s the reincarnation of the young ‘Pretty Boy’ Floyd Mayweather Jr before he slowed down and become the less offensive-minded ‘Money’ Mayweather in the second half of his career.
Haney (25-0, 15 KOs) patterned his early career on the young Floyd when he was knocking everyone out at 130 and 135 from 1996 to 2003.
When Mayweather moved up to 147 in 2005, he was forced to change his fighting style because his power didn’t carry up, and he started having hand problems.
It’s a positive that Haney, 22, is trying to be like the young Floyd, but in reality, his fighting style is much less aggressive in comparison. Mayweather wasn’t afraid to stay in the pocket in his fights early and even late in his career.
Mayweather was willing to stand and trade, and he made it exciting. In contrast, Haney fights more like Shakur Stevenson than Floyd with the way he avoids getting hit at all costs.
Haney doesn’t stay in close the way Mayweather did, and he’s always moving away after throwing pot shots.. That’s how Shakur Stevenson fights, NOT a young Mayweather.
As a result, fans complain about Haney’s fights being boring to watch. You hear the same criticism about Shakur’s fights.
They both avoid staying in the pocket at all costs, so they don’t get hit, but it’s boring and totally unlike a young Floyd, who wasn’t afraid to mix it up.
Here’s one of a young 22-year-old ‘Pretty Boy’ Floyd’s fights against Carlos Gerena in 1999:
“I want to pattern myself to when Floyd [Mayweather] didn’t get the millions, millions and millions of dollars yet,” said Devin Haney to Behind the Gloves.
“[Back when] Floyd was still on the come up like me. He was younger and more offensive-minded. He threw a lot more punches and he tried to hurt his opponents a lot more,” said Haney.
WBC lightweight champion Haney fights somewhat like a young Mayweather, but not as fast, not as powerful, and definitely not as aggressive as the young Floyd. There’s no comparison in terms of offense.
For comparison to a young ‘Pretty Boy’ Mayweather, here are highlights of Haney’s last fight against Yuriorkis Gamboa last November:
When Mayweather was at the same age as Haney is now at 22, he was 22-0 with 17 knockouts. Haney’s record is 25-0 with 15 knockouts. He’s not nearly the puncher that a young Mayweather was and nowhere near as exciting to watch.
If Haney wants to become a superstar and follow in Mayweather’s footsteps, he’s got to be willing to stay in the pocket and slug more and stop jumping back when his opponents show signs of wanting to throw.
Besides it being boring to watch, Haney isn’t doing a good job copying Mayweather’s fighting style. As I said, Haney is following Shakur Stevenson’s fighting style, and that’s a boring style in this writer’s opinion.
Haney will never possess the reflexes or the hand speed that a young Mayweather had, but at least he can work on his power to develop that area of his game because he’s going to have problems later on when he starts facing the elite at 135.
Haney needs to start fighting better opposition because he’s still not been properly tested during his career. When Mayweather was the same age, he was fighting a lot better opposition than Haney, and he wasn’t afraid.
Matchroom Boxing needs to take the training wheels off Haney and throw him in the deep end to see how he does against world-class opposition. If he’s not good enough, at least he’ll come down to earth and realize that he doesn’t possess the talent to be another Mayweather, not even an older version.
