Bill Haney is the 2023 TSS Boxing Manager of the Year

Published

1 year ago

December 28, 2023

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It has been written that Bill Haney once hoped that his son Devin would make his mark in football. That all changed when Bill took his son to a boxing gym in hopes that being around boxers would inspire the boy to be more disciplined. After watching the novice go through his paces, an observer, Derrick Harmon, turned to Bill and said, “this kid of yours is a natural.” That was high praise considering the source. Derrick Harmon was a former world title challenger who had shared the ring with the likes of Roy Jones Jr.

Okay, this may not have been the way that things actually unfolded. The timeline may be muddled and there’s undoubtedly more to the story. Regardless, boxing supplanted football as the sport of choice in the Haney household. And from the day precocious Devin first laced on a pair of gloves, Bill Haney, his father and mentor and the primary voice in his corner, hasn’t made a single misstep.

AIBA, the boxing arm of the International Olympic Committee, threw the Haneys a curveball in 2014. The organization raised the minimum age of an Olympic boxer from 17 to 19. There was a push-back, but it failed to gain sufficient traction to get the ruling overturned. Devin left the U.S. Olympic training program when it was confirmed that his age would keep him from competing at the Rio Summer Games and turned pro in Tijuana, Mexico shortly after his 17^th birthday. By then, the Haneys had left their home in Oakland and taken up residence in Las Vegas where there was a wealth of good sparring partners and world-class trainers, enabling a young boxer to better refine his tools.

Haney had his first four pro fights and 10 of his first 15 in Tijuana, fighting before small crowds in places like Billar El Perro Salado (translation: The Salty Dog Billiard Parlor). “It was mostly a bunch of drunks,” Bill Haney recollected, ”and they came to see the gringo kid get beat.” Devin, needless to say, never did get beat although one fighter, Hector Garcia Montes, came so close that there would be whispers that the officials were corrupt. By then, Devin had fought twice in his adopted hometown, the first at the MGM Grand where he opened the show at the rubber match between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley.

Devin hadn’t yet turned 18, that wouldn’t come for another six months, but the Nevada Athletic Commission had recently passed a resolution that allowed a fighter younger than 18 to fight professionally, albeit each case was weighed individually; a petitioner had to pass muster with a committee.

Devin passed muster and breezed to a 4-round decision before a large gaggle of vocal supporters in an arena that at this early hour would have otherwise been virtually empty.

Fast forward to June 5, 2022, in Melbourne, Australia, where Devin Haney outpointed lightweight title-holder George Kambosos Jr before a multitude of more than 40,000 to become the youngest unified champion in the modern, four-belt era. Devin defended the belt twice, winning the obligatory rematch with Kambosos, also in Australia, and then skirting by Vasyl Lomachenko before moving up in weight to challenge WBC 140-pound world champion Regis Prograis. They met earlier this month in San Francisco, the city where Devin was born.

Haney was favored, but there were plenty of sharp bettors who placed their coin on Prograis whose only loss in 30 pro fights had come in England against the Scotsman Josh Taylor in a rip-snorter of a 12-rounder that arguably could have gone either way.

Haney vs. Prograis was shockingly one-sided. Haney won every round on all three cards. It was as if Regis Prograis had grown old overnight, but this explanation isn’t fair to Devin who turned in a masterclass.

Bill Haney will undoubtedly get some votes for Trainer of the Year, but he wears many hats and in our eyes he’s best viewed as his son’s manager. It’s doubtful that any active boxer has a larger team around him and Bill is the glue that holds it all together.

As a trainer, Bill is a composite of many other trainers who have played instrumental roles in bringing his undefeated son to this point in his career. They say that too many chefs spoil the broth and they say that a donkey is a horse invented by a committee, but Bill Haney spurns both of these maxims and embraces a contrarian bromide: It takes a village to raise a child.

Over the years, many trainers have worked with Devin Haney. Virgil Hunter comes to mind, as do the Mayweather brothers, Floyd Sr and Roger, Kevin Henry, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Rodney Crisler, and Billy Giles. Devin’s godfather Yoel Judah has played a key role and for a time the noted British trainer Ben Davison was part of the team. Davison, who famously resurrected the career of Tyson Fury and currently trains Anthony Joshua, assisted Bill Haney in the corner for Devin’s fights with George Linares and Jojo Diaz. It’s a revolving cast with many of the contributors disappearing for a time only to come back again.

Devin Haney fought Regis Prograis under the Matchroom banner. This wasn’t their first rodeo. The Haneys returned to Matchroom after a three-fight run with Top Rank. Next up, if rumors are true, is a bout with Devin’s amateur rival Ryan Garcia, a longtime member of Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy stable.

Bill Haney has shown a willingness to work with any of the major promoters, which is another way of saying that he prefers to keep his options open. Whatever road he takes regarding Devin’s next fight, it will almost certainly be the right road. As far as we can see, he hasn’t made a misstep yet and that is why he is the 2023 TSS Boxing Manager of the Year.

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Arne K. Lang

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Bombs Away in Las Vegas where Inoue and Espinoza Scored Smashing Triumphs

Published

2 days ago

May 4, 2025

David A. Avila

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Japan’s Naoya “Monster” Inoue banged it out with Mexico’s Ramon Cardenas, survived an early knockdown and pounded out a stoppage win to retain the undisputed super bantamweight world championship on Sunday.

Japan and Mexico delivered for boxing fans again after American stars failed in back-to-back days.

“By watching tonight’s fight, everyone is well aware that I like to brawl,” Inoue said.

Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), and Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) and his wicked left hook, showed the world and 8,474 fans at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that prizefighting is about punching, not running.

After massive exposure for three days of fights that began in New York City, then moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and then to Nevada, it was the casino capital of the world that delivered what most boxing fans appreciate- pure unadulterated action fights.

Monster Inoue immediately went to work as soon as the opening bell rang with a consistent attack on Cardenas, who very few people knew anything about.

One thing promised by Cardenas’ trainer Joel Diaz was that his fighter “can crack.”

Cardenas proved his trainer’s words truthful when he caught Inoue after a short violent exchange with a short left hook and down went the Japanese champion on his back. The crowd was shocked to its toes.

“I was very surprised,” said Inoue about getting dropped. ““In the first round, I felt I had good distance. It got loose in the second round. From then on, I made sure to not take that punch again.”

Inoue had no trouble getting up, but he did have trouble avoiding some of Cardenas massive blows delivered with evil intentions. Though Inoue did not go down again, a look of total astonishment blanketed his face.

A real fight was happening.

Cardenas, who resembles actor Andy Garcia, was never overly aggressive but kept that left hook of his cocked and ready to launch whenever he saw the moment. There were many moments against the hyper-aggressive Inoue.

Both fighters pack power and both looked to find the right moment. But after Inoue was knocked down by the left hook counter, he discovered a way to eliminate that weapon from Cardenas. Still, the Texas-based fighter had a strong right too.

In the sixth round Inoue opened up with one of his lightning combinations responsible for 10 consecutive knockout wins. Cardenas backed against the ropes and Inoue blasted away with blow after blow. Then suddenly, Cardenas turned Inoue around and had him on the ropes as the Mexican fighter unloaded nasty combinations to the body and head. Fans roared their approval.

“I dreamed about fighting in front of thousands of people in Las Vegas,” said Cardenas. “So, I came to give everything.”

Inoue looked a little surprised and had a slight Mona Lisa grin across his face. In the seventh round, the Japanese four-division world champion seemed ready to attack again full force and launched into the round guns blazing. Cardenas tried to catch Inoue again with counter left hooks but Inoue’s combos rained like deadly hail. Four consecutive rights by Inoue blasted Cardenas almost through the ropes. The referee Tom Taylor ruled it a knockdown. Cardenas beat the count and survived the round.

In the eighth round Inoue looked eager to attack and at the bell launched across the ring and unloaded more blows on Cardenas. A barrage of 14 unanswered blows forced the referee to stop the fight at 45 seconds of round eight for a technical knockout win.

“I knew he was tough,” said Inoue. “Boxing is not that easy.”

Espinoza Wins

WBO featherweight titlist Rafael Espinosa (27-0, 23 KOs) uppercut his way to a knockout win over Edward Vazquez (17-3, 4 KOs) in the seventh round.

“I wanted to fight a game fighter to show what I am capable,” said Espinoza.

Espinosa used the leverage of his six-foot, one-inch height to slice uppercuts under the guard of Vazquez. And when the tall Mexican from Guadalajara targeted the body, it was then that the Texas fighter began to wilt. But he never surrendered.

Though he connected against Espinoza in every round, he was not able to slow down the taller fighter and that allowed the Mexican fighter to unleash a 10-punch barrage including four consecutive uppercuts. The referee stopped the fight at 1:47 of the seventh round.

It was Espinoza’s third title defense.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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Undercard Results and Recaps from the Inoue-Cardenas Show in Las Vegas

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2 days ago

May 4, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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The curtain was drawn on a busy boxing weekend tonight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas where the featured attraction was Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue appearing in his twenty-fifth world title fight.

The top two fights (Inoue vs. Roman Cardenas for the unified 122-pound crown and Rafael Espinoza vs. Edward Vazquez for the WBO world featherweight diadem) aired on the main ESPN platform with the preliminaries streaming on ESPN+.

The finale of the preliminaries was a 10-rounder between welterweights Rohan Polanco and Fabian Maidana. A 2020/21 Olympian for the Dominican Republic, Polanco was a solid favorite and showed why by pitching a shutout, punctuating his triumph by knocking Maidana to his knees late in the final round with a hard punch to the pit of the stomach.

Polanco improved to 16-0 (10). Argentina’s Maidana, the younger brother of former world title-holder Marcos Maidana, fell to 24-4 while maintaining his distinction of never being stopped.

Emiliano Vargas, a rising force in the 140-pound division with the potential to become a crossover star, advanced to 14-0 (12 KOs) with a second-round stoppage Juan Leon. Vargas, who turned 21 last month, is the son of former U.S. Olympian Fernando Vargas who had big money fights with the likes of Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya. Emiliano knocked Leon down hard twice in round two – both the result of right-left combinations — before Robert Hoyle waived it off.

A 28-year-old Spaniard, Leon was 11-2-1 heading in.

In his U.S. debut, 29-year-old Japanese southpaw Mikito Nakano (13-0, 12 KOs) turned in an Inoue-like performance with a fourth-round stoppage of Puerto Rico’s Pedro Medina. Nakano, a featherweight, had Medina on the canvas five times before referee Harvey Dock waived it off at the 1:58 mark of round four. The shell-shocked Medina (16-2) came into the contest riding a 15-fight winning streak.

Lynwood, California junior middleweight Art Barrera Jr, a 19-year-old protégé of Robert Garcia, scored a sixth-round stoppage of Chicago’s Juan Carlos Guerra. There were no knockdowns, but the bout had turned sharply in Barrera’s favor when referee Thomas Taylor intervened. The official time was 1:15 of round six.

Barrera improved to 9-0 (7 KOs). The spunky but outclassed Guerra, who upset Nico Ali Walsh in his previous outing, declined to 6-2-1.

In the lid-lifter, a 10-round featherweight affair, Muskegon Michigan’s Ra’eese Aleem improved to 22-1 (12) with a unanimous decision over LA’s hard-trying Rudy Garcia (13-2-1). The judges had it 99-01, 98-92, and 97-93.

Aleem, 34, was making his second start since June of 2023 when he lost a split decision in Australia to Sam Goodman with a date with Naoya Inoue hanging in the balance.

Check back shortly for David Avila’s recaps of the two world title fights.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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Canelo Alvarez Upends Dancing Machine William Scull in Saudi Arabia

Published

3 days ago

May 3, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who has acquired a new nickname – “The Face of Boxing” – is accustomed to fighting on Cinco De Mayo weekend, but this year was different. For the first time, Canelo was fighting outside the continent of North America and entering the ring at an awkward hour. His match with William Scull started at 6:30 on a Sunday morning in Riyadh.

In the opposite corner was 32-year-old William Scull, an undefeated (23-0) Cuban by way of Germany, whose performance was better suited to “Dancing With the Stars” than to a world title fight. Constantly bouncing from side to side but rarely letting his hands go, Scull frustrated Canelo who found it near-impossible to corner him, but one can’t win a fight solely on defense and the Mexican superstar was returned the rightful winner in a bout that was a fitting cap to a desultory two days of Saudi-promoted prizefighting. The scores were 115-113, 116-112, and 119-109. In winning, Canelo became a fully unified super middleweight champion twice over.

Terence Crawford was in attendance and HE Turki Alalshikh made it official: Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) and Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) will meet in the Fight of the Century (Alalshikh’s words) on Sept. 12 in Las Vegas at the home of the city’s NFL team, the Raiders. For whatever it’s worth, each of Canelo’s last seven fights has gone the full 12 rounds.

Semi-wind-up

In a match between the WBC world cruiserweight title-holder and the WBC world cruiserweight “champion in recess” (don’t ask), the former, Badou Jack, brought some clarity to the diadem by winning a narrow decision over Noel Mikaelian. One of the judges had it a draw (114-114), but the others gave the fight to “Jack the Ripper” by 115-113 scores.

A devout Muslim who is now a full-time resident of Saudi Arabia, the Sweden-born Jack, a three-division title-holder, had the crowd in his corner. Now 41 years old, he advanced his record to 29-3-3 (17). It was the first pro loss for Mikaelian (27-1), a Florida-based Armenian who was subbing for Ryan Rozicki.

The distracted CompuBox operator credited Mikaelian with throwing 300 more punches but there was no controversy.

Tijuana’s Jaime Munguia, a former junior middleweight title-holder, avenged his shocking loss to Bruno Sarace with a unanimous 12-round decision in their rematch. This was Munguia’s first fight with Eddy Reynoso in his corner. The scores were 117-111 and 116-112 twice.

Surace’s one-punch knockout of Munguia in mid-December in Tijuana was the runaway pick for the 2024 Upset of the Year. Heading in, Munguia was 44-1 with his lone defeat coming at the hands of Canelo Alvarez. Munguia had won every round against Surace before the roof fell in on him.

Surace won a few rounds tonight, but Munguia was the busier fighter and landed the cleaner shots. It was the first pro loss for Surace (26-1-2) and ended his 23-fight winning streak. The Frenchman hails for Marseilles.

Heavyweights

In a 10-round heavyweight match fought at a glacial pace, Martin Bakole (21-2-1) and Efe Ajagba (20-1-1) fought to a draw. One of the judges favored Ajagba 96-94 but he was outvoted by his cohorts who each had it 95-95.

Bakole, a 7/2 favorite, came in at 299 pounds, 15 more than he carried in his signature win over Jared Anderson, and looked sluggish. He was never able to effectively close off the ring against the elusive Ajagba who fought off his back foot and failed to build on his early lead.

The fight between the Scotch-Congolese campaigner Bakole and his Nigerian-American foe was informally contested for the heavyweight championship of Africa. That “title” remains vacant.

In a 6-rounder, heavy-handed Cuban light heavyweight Brayon Leon, a stablemate of Canelo Alvarez, was extended the distance for the first time while advancing his record to 7-0 at the expense of Mexico’s Aaron Roche (11-4-1). Leon knocked Roche to the canvas in the fourth round with a right-left combination, but the Mexican stayed the course while eating a lot of hard punches.

Photo credit: Leigh Dawney / Queensberry Promotions

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