Devin Haney isn’t mincing words anymore when discussing his one-time mentor Floyd Mayweather Jr.
In recent years, the Hall of Fame fighter had given Haney guidance by training him at his Las Vegas gym, and the two were even flying together on Mayweather’s private jet and spending time at his mega-mansion.
But as the WBC super lightweight champion Haney and Ryan Garcia kicked off their negotiations in December, Mayweather got involved and influenced Garcia to instead fight Rolando Romero, the 140-pound WBA titleholder signed to Mayweather Promotions.
Garcia obliged and told his team to focus on a fight with Romero, who switched his stance and signed a deal to fight Isaac Cruz on March 30.
Stuck alone at the altar, Garcia reignited negotiations with the former undisputed lightweight champion Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) and quickly signed a deal to fight April 20 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on DAZN pay-per-view.
Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) added fuel to the promotional fire this week by releasing nine-year-old sparring footage featuring a 16-year-old Haney tussling with Gervonta Davis at Mayweather’s gym.
The edited one-minute and forty-three second clip shows the four-years-older Davis dominating Haney as Mayweather referees the action.
A fed-up Haney finally punched back Friday on social media with a counter shot directed at Mayweather.
“Floyd has been hating a long time,” Haney posted. “This ain’t just starting. I held my tongue for years because I respect the greats of the sport. But dude is a bonafide hater that doesn’t wanna see nobody win if he’s not a part of it! I know he sent Ryan the sparring [footage] … I know he gave Ryan those ‘pimp’ comments to say [at the press conference]. Miserable old man tried to [originally] stop the fight. Alhamdulillah I’m happy he revealed himself to the world.”
Soon after making the statement, Haney also posted an edited photo on Instagram carrying a torch with Mayweather behind him and called it “The Haney Era.”
By Manouk Akopyan