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Devin Haney wants his promoter to start working on his obligatory title defense against Joseph Diaz Jr.
Diaz won the WBC’s interim lightweight crown when he beat Javier Fortuna on July 9 and thus is the mandatory challenger for Haney’s WBC world lightweight championship. Now, however, Diaz is interested in facing the former WBC interim lightweight title-holder who passed on his own mandated fight with Haney earlier this year.
Eddie Hearn, Haney’s promoter, explained during his weekly appearance Wednesday on “The DAZN Boxing Show” that Haney won’t wait around for Diaz while Diaz considers a showdown with Ryan Garcia. Diaz and Garcia both are represented by Golden Boy Promotions, which means their lightweight fight would be relatively easy to make.
Hearn senses that Las Vegas’ Haney (26-0, 15 KOs) and his father/manager, Bill Haney, are rightfully frustrated by their predicament.
“I mean, I’ve said to you guys before,” Hearn told co-hosts Barak Bess and Akin Reyes, “like it’s the most bizarre situation, where you’ve got two guys now – one in Ryan Garcia, who won a final eliminator to fight Devin Haney and ducked him – and then one in Jo Jo Diaz, that fought a final eliminator to fight Devin Haney and he’s now talking about a Ryan Garcia fight. I will say that Jo Jo Diaz has made some, you know, like I believe that he’s up for that fight. But I also think that he thinks the Ryan Garcia fight is an easier fight. And I think he wants to explore that option as well.”
The 22-year-old Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs), of Victorville, California, was supposed to face Fortuna on July 9. He withdrew from their 12-round, 135-pound championship bout to focus on his mental health.
The left-handed Diaz (32-1-1, 15 KOs), of Downey, California, happily replaced Garcia and capitalized on his opportunity by out-boxing Fortuna (36-3-1, 25 KOs, 1 NC) in a fight DAZN streamed from Banc of California Stadium.
The 22-year-old Haney has other intriguing options if Diaz declines to accept the guaranteed shot at Haney’s championship that he earned by defeating Fortuna. The Oakland native has not re-signed with DAZN because he wants the flexibility to fight Vasiliy Lomachenko (15-2, 11 KOs) on ESPN or ESPN Pay-Per-View or Gervonta Davis (25-0, 24 KOs) on Showtime Pay-Per-View if either of those opportunities are presented to him.
“Devin messaged me [Tuesday] night,” Hearn said, “and, you know, I think Bill [feels] the same, as if to say, ‘Look, we wanna start talks now with Jo Jo Diaz.’ You know, and ultimately, it’s gonna come down to which way Jo Jo Diaz wants to go. We’re not gonna wait for Jo Jo Diaz. You know, with all due respect to him, like, you know, he’s a good fighter, but we’ve got plenty of other options for Devin Haney.
“But that’s just the mandatory that we were supposed to be fighting. So, we’ll speak to the WBC, and we’ll see how that lies. But ultimately, if Jo Jo Diaz chooses to fight Ryan Garcia over Devin Haney, there’s not a lot we can do about it. We’ve just gotta make sure that we get the right opponent for Devin Haney.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.