Shakur Stevenson has run through Devin Haney’s options and reached a total of one.
Haney has not fought since beating Brian Norman Jr on points in November to take the WBO welterweight title and become a three-division champion. A mandatory against Keyshawn Davis had looked like the answer after Top Rank won the purse bid, until Davis withdrew last week.
Stevenson’s view is that there is nobody left except Jaron Ennis.
You said you’d fight Conor Benn? You said you’d find Xander. Why the —- you don’t say you want to fight Boots now? Matter of fact, you’ve got no other option.
There’s nobody else on the table. There’s no me, there’s no Key, there’s no Rolly. Who do you go to? Boots is free. Go get him.
He is counting himself out of it deliberately. Stevenson and Haney spent much of the summer arguing over a catchweight, with Haney accepting 144 in June and Bill Haney later saying his son should make everyone come to 147. Those talks stalled again this month.
Ennis is the awkward part of the argument. He unified at welterweight before moving up to 154, where he stopped Xander Zayas in June to take the WBA and WBO super welterweight titles. Haney would have to move up to face him, which is a different proposition to any of the names Stevenson has ruled out.
Ennis has options of his own. He has been linked with IBF champion Josh Kelly and with Vergil Ortiz Jr.
