Caleb Plant is on Devin Haney’s side, seeing his much-criticized performance against Jose Ramirez as perfectly fine. Plant blames Ramirez for not doing enough to make it more competitive. It would have been if Haney weren’t moving so much.
(Credit: Geoffrey Knott/Matchroom)
Siding with Haney – Why?
The former IBF super middleweight champion Plant commends Haney for being able to move for 12 rounds like that. He saw that as his game plan to do.
“When I first seen Devin fight in the first round, I thought, ‘Okay, maybe he’s just trying to figure things out. Maybe a little fight jitters from the first Ryan fight, and maybe he’ll settle down,’” said Caleb Plant to Fighthype, reacting to Devin Haney’s performance against Jose Ramirez on May 2nd.
Haney looked terrified of Ramirez and showed no trust in his chin. If he at least tried to fight, fans wouldn’t be dumping on him like they are now. He fought like he was petrified, and it’s not okay for him to do so. When you’re auditioning for the Ryan Garcia fight, you got to do better than that. It’s troubling that Plant can’t understand that. He’s not a particularly entertaining fighter to watch either, but you’d like to think he had more going on upstairs to know that Haney had to be entertaining because he was paid a lot of money, more than world champions make. His performance was that of a bottom-feeder.
“But after 12 rounds of that, you can’t have nervous energy and do that for 12 rounds. The only way you can do that for 12 rounds is if you train to do that for 12 rounds, which lets you know that was their game plan,” said Plant about Team Haney. “That’s what was asked of him.”
It wasn’t just Haney’s game plan to move for his fight with Ramirez. He’s been using that style his entire career. The only time he fought aggressively was in his fight with Ryan Garcia, and he paid the price for doing so.
Whose Job Was It?
“It takes a lot of discipline. It takes a lot of discipline and focus to do that for 36 minutes, and Jose is no bum. It’s not Devin’s job to make it a more competitive fight. It’s Devin’s job to win as easy as possible. It was Jose’s job to make it a more competitive fight. It was Jose’s job to cut off the ring,” said Caleb.
Plant is wrong. It was Devin’s job to make it an entertaining fight, and he didn’t do that. It would have been competitive if Haney hadn’t run so much, but he was hitting and then dashing away all night. That’s why he took so much criticism. He was reportedly paid $10 million, which is a lot of money for a non-champion to make fighting like that for 12 rounds. Plant might be good with it because he looked equally bad against Canelo Alvarez and David Benavidez.
“And Jose has trouble punching without setting his feet. And now, did it make for the most appetizing fight? No. Sometimes, it’s going to be a butt-whooping, whether it’s entertaining or not. And, I feel like he [Haney] just wanted to get that win, not cuts, no scrapes, no bruises, and make it into the [Ryan] Garcia fight unscathed,” said Plant.
That wasn’t a “Butt-whooping” that Haney put on. That was a hit, run, and hold all night that he did against Ramirez. You’ve got to stand and fight for it to have a chance of being a “butt-whooping,” and Haney wasn’t willing to do that. It’s not surprising that Plant isn’t coming down on Haney because his style has elements of his own. The two are very similar in how they fight. So, for Plant to criticize Haney, he would be doing it to himself, and he’s not going to do that. They’re two of a kind.
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