Devin Haney Vs. Brian Norman Jr.: Haney’s Experience And Higher-Level Opposition Key To November Showdown Victory

Commentator Chris Mannix believes Devin Haney has an excellent chance of defeating WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. in November. He says that the opposition that Norman Jr. (28-0, 22 KOs) has faced during his career is not on the level of what he’ll be dealing with against the former two-division world champion Haney (32-0, 15 KOs).

Norman Jr. Untested?

Mannix notes that Haney, 26, has more experience, a pound-for-pound top 10, and knows how to fight punchers like Norman Jr. The oddsmakers have Haney as a favorite, which is surprising given that he’s chinny and facing the biggest puncher in the welterweight division.

“He’s untested at this point. You can’t say that wins over [Giovani] Santillan, [Derrieck] Cuevas, and Jin Sasaki are equivalent to Devin Haney,” said Chris Mannix to DAZN Boxing about WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. not having faced the level of fighters that can compare to what he’s about to Devin Haney.

The guys Norman Jr. has fought recently aren’t as talented as Haney, but they all have better punching power. Even Sasaki has more pop in his shots than Devin, and his chin is on another level as well. The hard shots Sasaki took against Norman on June 19th would have easily knocked out Haney.

“I think the fight with Ramirez was under 147. This will be at a full 147 pounds. I think he’s going to be better.”

Haney looked shellshocked in his catchweight fight against the slow, past his best Jose Ramirez last May. He was utterly unwilling to engage against him, and he’s not half the puncher that the 24-year-old Brian Norman Jr. is. If Devin was unwilling to stand and fight Ramirez, he’s going to be even more so once he feels the power of Norman Jr. in the first round.

Punch Resistance Doubts

“When you put more weight on you’re body, you’re better for that. He’s probably going to have a better chin,” said Mannix about Haney. “If Brian Norman connects like he did against Jin Sasaki, it’s over. He’s going to be a handful for Brian Norman.”

Putting more weight on is no guarantee that a fighter will have better punch resistance. That’s an old wives’ tale. A lot of fighters who have been knocked out say their punch resistance will be better when they move up. When they do move up, they’re still getting knocked out. It gets worse for them because they’re getting hit harder when they move up in weight. We’re likely going to see that with Haney, who is facing the biggest puncher in his career, Norman Jr.

Is Haney P4P Top 10?

“We’re going to find out in this fight if he’s the real deal. He’s looked really good against B and C opponents. Let’s see how he looks against a guy [Haney] with real top 10 pound-for-pound talent.”

Let’s get this straight. Haney is NOT a true top 10 pound-for-pound fighter. Mannix is going way overboard with his praise of Devin by classifying him as top 10 pound-for-pound fighter. Devin’s last two fights showed that he’s a B-level fighter, and he might not even be that now that he’s finally moved up to 147.

Norman Jr. is going to show whether Haney is a top-tier fighter at welterweight or just another one of the many ex-weight bullies that are brought down to earth when they move up in weight, where they no longer have a size advantage.

Haney should have been fighting at 147 years ago but has been able to drain down to 135 and 140 to use his extra size to dominate the opposition. He only fought two good fighters in those years, Vasily Lomachenko and Ryan Garcia, and arguably lost to both.