BoxRec

Devin Haney now in ‘advanced talks’ with UK champion for first title defence

Devin Haney has reportedly reached “advanced negotiations” for his maiden WBO title defence, with the welterweight champion seemingly still targeting a date of October 3.

Initially, this date was reserved for his mandatory title defence against Keyshawn Davis, only for their contest to go up in smoke after the ‘Businessman’ withdrew his interest.

The whole saga saw Davis reject a reported offer of $3m, before pulling out of the fight after a WBO purse bid hearing resulted in his promoter, Top Rank, winning with a sum of $8.55m.

As per the sanctioning bodies’ 75/25 split in favour of the champion, this would have meant Davis pocketing a total of $2.14m.

With Davis forgoing his mandatory position, however, Haney began pursuing a unification match with Liam Paro, who dethroned Lewis Crocker for the IBF 147lb title in June.

According to boxing journalist Julius Julianis, though, the Aussie priced himself out of negotiations and left Haney scratching around for yet another new opponent.

As per a Julianis social media post, which has been reshared by Haney, this led the three-weight world champion to invite Jack Catterall to the negotiating table.

“Devin Haney and Jack Catterall are in advanced negotiations to face off on October 3rd for the WBO welterweight world title currently held by Haney. Negotiations with Liam Paro broke down due to the Australian’s excessive financial demands.”



Catterall comes off arguably a career-best performance against Shakhram Giyasov, who he unanimously outpointed for the WBA ‘regular’ title in May.

Haney, meanwhile, has not fought since dethroning Brian Norman Jr in November; back when he, like Catterall, scored an early knockdown before winning convincingly on points.

Wouldn’t say advanced but we’ve accepted the fight and the date proposed. We are easy to deal with we’re not greedy delusional people. Let’s get the fight on and get the contracts signed

@BillHaney77
@Realdevinhaney

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑08 Aug 2026, 05:04 Devin Haney now in ‘advanced talks’ with UK champion for first title defence street view

Devin Haney has reportedly reached “advanced negotiations” for his maiden WBO title defence, with the welterweight champion seemingly still targeting a date of October 3.

Initially, this date was reserved for his mandatory title defence against Keyshawn Davis, only for their contest to go up in smoke after the ‘Businessman’ withdrew his interest.

The whole saga saw Davis reject a reported offer of $3m, before pulling out of the fight after a WBO purse bid hearing resulted in his promoter, Top Rank, winning with a sum of $8.55m.

As per the sanctioning bodies’ 75/25 split in favour of the champion, this would have meant Davis pocketing a total of $2.14m.

With Davis forgoing his mandatory position, however, Haney began pursuing a unification match with Liam Paro, who dethroned Lewis Crocker for the IBF 147lb title in June.

According to boxing journalist Julius Julianis, though, the Aussie priced himself out of negotiations and left Haney scratching around for yet another new opponent.

As per a Julianis social media post, which has been reshared by Haney, this led the three-weight world champion to invite Jack Catterall to the negotiating table.

Catterall makes a lot of sense at this point. He’s proven at world level, technically sound, and has the experience to give Haney a real test. If October 3 gets finalized, I’d be interested to see how Haney handles Catterall’s southpaw style and movement.

Devin Haney vs. Jack Catterall in works for October 3

Devin Haney is zeroing in on a new dance partner for the first defense of his WBO welterweight title.

After fruitless negotiations with Rolando Romero, Liam Paro and Keyshawn Davis, among others, Haney is now eyeing an encounter against Jack Catterall on October 3, a date he originally saved for Davis before "The Businessman" pulled out of an ordered fight that resulted in an $8.55 million purse bid.

Catterall's manager, Sam Jones, shed light on the potential fight on social media.

"I wouldn’t say advanced [negotiations], but we’ve accepted the fight and the date proposed. We are easy to deal with. We're not greedy or delusional. Let’s get the fight on and get the contracts signed," Jones wrote.

"What I hope isn’t the case is that Jack is being used as a decoy. Paro is scared of taking the fight for less money than he’s wanting. All I can tell you is we’ve accepted the fight and the date and location. So if the fight doesn’t happen, it’s not on Jack."

Haney (33-0, 15 KOs) picked up the 147-pound title by beating Brian Norman Jr. via unanimous decision in November. Once Davis passed on the fight on July 31, Haney immediately moved on to negotiate with Paro, who won the IBF title by beating Lewis Crocker on June 24.

Catterall (33-2, 14 KOs) beat Shakhram Giyasov last time out, in May, to become the mandatory challenger for WBA titleholder Romero. However, Romero maneuvered his way to a matchup against Teofimo Lopez Jr. on August 22.

Haney is ranked No. 1 by The Ring in the welterweight division; Catterall is No. 3.

A close fight that could seemingly go either way. It'll go Haney's way, and Catterall will once again feel robbed, but it'll be another case of him just having a style that let's it get away. Some guys just can't ever put their foot to the gas when they need it most. Catterall and Haney are both kinda those guys, but Catterall is more so.

I look for Haney to win another mildly controversial decision.

Not a fight for the casuals that’s for sure

I think I'd rather paint my walls and watch them dry