Devin Haney fires back at Conor Benn after beating Brian Norman Jr

On Saturday, November 22, on a stacked Ring IV card, Devin Haney delivered arguably a career-best performance, beating Brian Norman Jr by unanimous decision to win the WBO welterweight world title.

After that win, Conor Benn and his promoter Eddie Hearn dismissed Haney’s performance, with “The Dream” later firing back in an interview with Fight Hub TV.

Devin Haney defeats Brian Norman Jr in Riyadh

Devin Haney (33-0, 15 KOs, 1 NC) produced his best performance for some time, scoring an early round knockdown to win a unanimous decision against Brian Norman Jr. (28-1, 22 KOs, 2 NCs).

The opening round was a quiet opener, before Haney rocked Norman with a left hook, and followed up with a right hand to knock him down. Haney stayed diligent behind the jab, nullifying Norman’s offence.

When Norman lunged in and closed the distance, Haney was ready to clinch and prevent Norman from getting his punches off. Haney moved more in the later rounds and didn’t engage much. Despite it not being a great fight, it was a great performance from “The Dream,” who won on the scorecards with scores of 117-110, 116-111, and 114-113. The less said about the 114-113 card, the better, but the right man got his hand raised and is now the WBO champion.

Devin Haney fires back after Benn and Hearn dismiss his win

After Haney’s win, Conor Benn and Eddie Hearn made it clear they were not impressed, despite Haney now being a three-division world champion:

“It wasn’t really a great performance in my opinion,” Benn said live on DAZN Pay-Per-View from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. “[Haney] looked scared of his own shadow in there. I thought he really didn’t want to engage. He’s happy to nick rounds and nick fights. To me, there wasn’t no entertainment in there, and it’s an entertainment business.”

Benn added: “He puts people to sleep and I’m not talking about in the ring.”

Eddie Hearn, Benn’s Matchroom Boxing promoter, agreed with his charge.

“He doesn’t want to engage at any moment during the fight,” Hearn said.

Responding to those comments, Haney said:

“Conor Benn, he’s nothing compared to me. He’s never accomplished nothing. His biggest win is fighting a weight-drained Chris Eubank.

“He’s never been a world champion. He’s never done nothing in the sport of boxing. He got lucky with the opportunity because he’s Eddie Hearn’s puppet. At the end of the day, he’s nothing. He hasn’t accomplished nothing in the sport of boxing. So, he can say what he wants to say, but he’s not on my level.”

Who would you like to see Devin Haney face next?