Devin Haney found a way to end talk about whether his beating by Ryan Garcia had damaged his career.
Haney defeated Brian Norman Jr. by unanimous decision, won the WBO welterweight title and became a three-division world champion. Before the judges confirmed last night in Saudi Arabia that she had a third belt, she had already been world lightweight and super lightweight champion.
The scores were 114-113, 117-110 and 116-111 in favor of Haney, who made his welterweight debut against one of the hardest hitters in the division.
Known more for his technique than his punching, Haney floored Norman with a hard right hand. He then used his boxing skills to keep Norman at bay, remain undefeated (33-0) and hand Norman (28-1) his first loss as a professional.
Haney no longer seemed haunted by his 2024 fight against Garcia, who knocked him down three times en route to a majority decision victory, a result changed to “no contest” after Garcia tested positive for ostarine, a performance-enhancing substance.
In his next bout, Haney looked shaky in an unimpressive unanimous decision victory over José Ramírez. But last night in the ring, against a dangerous opponent, Haney showed poise and power, “USA Today” reported.
For his part, David Benavídez defended his WBC world light heavyweight title against Anthony Yarde in a brutal way.
He knocked down Yarde twice in the seventh round and ended up covered in his rival’s blood before the referee stopped the fight after the second knockdown.
Benavidez, the 28-year-old Miami-born fighter, improved to 31-0.