Mercado Says Keyshawn Davis Never Intended To Fight Devin Haney

“I feel like his intentions were never to fight Devin,” Mercado said to Fighthype. “I think it was more to kind of boost his name up. I think he did a good job because everybody’s talking about him right now. I think it was more of a publicity stunt, and I think it worked out in his favor. Obviously, you got some backlash, but what do they say? Good or bad publicity is always good publicity. I don’t think he was ever meant to fight him.”

The fight advanced to a purse bid after the sides failed to reach an agreement, but Davis ultimately declined the opportunity. Mercado acknowledged the purse was not ideal, yet he argued that beating Haney would have led to much larger paydays.

“Sometimes it’s worth taking that risk,” Mercado said. “It’s not the greatest money, but it’s not bad money either. Sometimes you got to take the short end of the stick so you can start demanding what you want after that fight. If you beat one of the top pound-for-pound guys, then you deserve more. But sometimes you got to work your way up. Keyshawn, to me, hasn’t fought nobody yet. I know he’s a world champion, but he hasn’t fought nobody yet for him to claim that his resume is all that either.”

Mercado said he would have accepted the same offer, even if it meant moving to welterweight earlier than planned.

“I’ll take the fight,” Mercado said. “It’s a little scary because once I go to 147, I’m not going to want to go back down to 140. My initial plan was to get a belt at 140 and move to 147. But I’ll take the fight because it’s a good opportunity. Devin’s a household name. My goal would be to beat Devin. The money I’m going to get after that is going to be crazy. Sometimes you have to take the little bit amount so you go there and make double. I would definitely take that.”