Article by Rick Mohamed

Devin Haney retains his WBC Lightweight title with a dominant showing over Jorge Linares, until the end of the 10th round…

Devin Haney looked solid and strong in his match vs. Jorge Linares for Haney’s WBC lightweight belt-all the way to the end of the 10th round. Then came the boom. 

The boom came from Linares’ right hand that staggered Haney, who had to struggle to stay up and weather the furious rally from Linares. He did, retaining his title, but fans tagged him with a mixed smattering of boos and cheers afterwards. 

The knight has a chink in his armor! 

A weakness that his rivals will be quite eager to exploit and take his title. It’s also a weakness that rivals will use as an excuse to avoid him, saying that he’s unexciting and not worthy of a big match. 

Haney (26-0, 15 KOs) came into the fight and delivered a dominant performance all the way until the final seconds of the 10th round. If this was a 10 round fight, folks would’ve said that Haney thoroughly dominated Linares, who got in a good punch at the end. That would’ve been it. 

However, this was a 12 round championship fight, and Haney hung on for dear life, as Linares fought hard to take him out. The judges awarded the fight to Haney: 116-112(2), & 115-113. He did more than enough to earn the victory. 

The ending almost spoiled it for him, however. Now, the sharks see blood in the water, and they’ll be coming for Devin Haney and his juicy WBC lightweight belt. 

The other champions may avoid him, believing he’s flawed and not worth the fight; contenders will be more than eager to take him on, believing they can finish what Linares started. 

After the fight, Haney said he wasn’t hurt, but that didn’t seem the case, as fans booed and cheered the 22-year old. People forget that his last fight, a unanimous decision over Yuriorkis Gamboa, was quite unexciting. though dominant. 

Haney was dominant in this match as well, until he allowed Linares to touch him. Perhaps Haney was so willing to please fans and convince potential big name opponents that he is a force to be reckoned with that he got too close to Linares, got careless, and almost paid dearly for it. 

Haney covets a huge money fight against Teofimo Lopez, who holds the other 3 lightweight title belts. Lopez next fights vs. George Kambosos June 19th in Miami. 

Another big name fight could be Ryan Garcia, though Garcia cancelled his upcoming fight due to mental health issues (mental health is a real thing!). Many are wondering where Garcia’s “head” will be once he decides to fight again. Congrats to “Team Haney”: hopefully, he gets bigger, more lucrative fights after this!

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