Devin Haney, Brian Norman Jr. Size Each Other Up in NYC

Devin Haney and WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. met up today in New York City. Haney (32-0, 15 KOs) and Norman Jr. (28-0, 22 KOs) sized up each other ahead of their November 22nd fight at the ANB Arena in Riyadh.

You could see that there was no size difference between them. That’s not surprising because Devin tends to rehydrate into the 160s, and he’s not fighting. So, he’s going to have some size on him. The difference is that Haney’s size doesn’t translate to having more power.

Bill Haney’s Confidence Level

“You don’t look too big. You’re looking small,” said Bill Haney about Norman Jr.

Bill shouldn’t get too confident because Norman Jr. can still punch like an ox, and is krytonite for his son if he lands one of his bricks on November 22nd. Devin looked like a textbook example of a Jerry in his last fight against Jose Ramirez last May in New York. It was after the event that Turki Alalshikh issued his no Tom and Jerry fights directive.

“We’re training for the best Devin Haney pre-Ryan Garcia and post-Ryan Garcia,” said Brian Norman Sr. to Fighthype about his son, Brian Norman Jr’s fight against Hany in November. “We’re looking at all his fights, studying what he can and can’t do. In my mind, the best him don’t have a counter for the best Brian Norman Jr.”

The best Haney no longer exists for these reasons:

1. No longer at 135: Without the giant size advantage that Devin had while fighting at lightweight, he’s a different person at welterweight. That size advantage was the key to his success in that weight class.
2. Still haunted by the loss to Ryan Garcia
3. Lacks power for 147

“I think what Devin did in his last fight, you can perceive that as running because that was a bit excessive,” said Norman Sr. “Turki is putting on the show. He is the one who had a problem with the Tom and Jerry situation. Turki don’t like that. So, why would he pay to see that again?”

Devin will fight the way he always does by moving, holding, and stiff-arming Norman Jr. He’ll gain confidence when Shakur Stevenson gets away with running all night against William Zepeda on Saturday. If Turki doesn’t make a big deal out of it, Haney will feel free to run to his heart’s content against Norman Jr. He’ll force him into the ‘Tom’ role.

Norman Sr. Warns Haney

“I imagine he will come with a better game plan than running. He already saw that Turki doesn’t like that, and the fans don’t like that. He got a lot of criticism for that, and it won’t work anyway,” said Norman Sr.

Haney will still try running because he’s not going to stand and fight Norman Jr. and wind up in the same situation he was when he fought Ryan Garcia last year. He’d rathrer run and survive for 12 rounds than stand and get obliterated by Norman Jr.