Brian Norman Jr has been dreaming of fighting Devin Haney, but expects his American rival to be fired up by recent criticism.
Norman Jr is preparing for the most significant fight of his unbeaten 28-bout career when he defends his WBO welterweight world title against Haney in Saudi Arabia on November 22.
Haney landed just 70 punches according to Compubox in a lacklustre points win over Jose Carlos Ramirez as he returned from a controversial 2024 bout with Ryan Garcia, which was overturned from a points loss to a no contest after Garcia tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance.
“He is the opponent I’ve been dreaming of,” Norman told Sky Sports. “His strengths are his feet, his jab.
“But his weakness is Brian Norman Jr. The fact that I am me, the fact that I put this work in, the fact that I wake up early with the intensity and integrity that I have each and every day.”
Norman, though, does not read much into Haney’s last showing against Ramirez.
“You can’t judge a man off of one fight,” he said. “You go back three fights, I saw people say he can outbox Gervonta Davis, then the next fight with Ryan Garcia [they say:] ‘He should retire, he’ll never be the same, he was never that’.
“When everything was against me that’s when I started flipping over and that’s why y’all know about me now. That’s when I started knocking heads off, so I’m pretty sure Devin is fired up as well.”
Norman’s admiration for James Toney, who held multiple world championships in three weight classes yet himself had poor nights in the ring, means he will not underestimate a fighter on the basis of one bout.
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Haney defeated ring legend Vasyl Lomachenko in 2023
“I look up to James Toney a lot, great fighter,” Norman said. “But he’s had some bad performances, why was that? Because he wasn’t disciplined in the right way so had a bad night, but should we judge his whole career off one night? No.
“Devin Haney I know for a fact is mentally prepared, he is ready and doing everything he’s go to do. He sees everything everyone is saying undermining him, but I’m not going to judge him after one fight.
“Straight up skill, integrity and savageness will be what wins this fight. Looking back to when I won the [interim] belt, I was catching him [Giovani Santillan] with shots but wasn’t able to hurt him until the later rounds. I got there though because I was breaking him down, chopping him down, catching him on the inside.
“I was breaking him down mentally, a lot of people think my power is my specialty, but no, that’s just even more to my greatness, my IQ is what will shine in this fight.”
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Devin Haney displayed razor-sharp skills in the rematch with George Kambosos Jr
Haney is targeting a world title in a third weight class and Norman Jr believes he is attracting the same negative opinions as Manny Pacquiao and Terence Crawford, who also risked their reputations with dangerous fights in higher divisions.
“A lot of people try to undermine Devin Haney how they try to undermine Manny Pacquiao. They try to undermine all these guys,” Norman said. “But what y’all don’t realise is they’re doing something y’all can’t do. Not only can’t do, they’re doing something y’all won’t do. They’re actually trying. A lot of people don’t try, and that’s what’s wrong with people.
“Let’s look at Crawford and Canelo. People were saying Crawford can’t win. Why? Because he’s too small, he’s too this, he’s too old. He got everything against him. Why?
“He’s still human. Canelo’s still human. So it’s just people feeling like something is impossible until somebody does it.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: skynews.com
