Boxing
Devin Haney brilliant in defeating Brian Norman Jr. and becoming new WBO welterweight champion in redeeming performance
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If there were any lingering questions about Devin Haney’s confidence, ‘The Dream’ showed the boxing world that he’s back to brimming with it.
On Saturday night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and live on DAZN Pay-Per-View, Haney took a power puncher in Brian Norman Jr. and showed him that he has power of his own. ‘The Dream’ dropped Norman Jr. with a check left hook-right hand combo in the second round and boxed behind the jab effectively the rest of the way toward a dominant unanimous decision in taking the WBO welterweight title to become a three-division world champion.
Judges scored it 114-113, 117-110, and 116-111, all in Haney's favor.
The win marked redemption for the 27-year-old Haney (32-0 with 1 no contest, 15 KOs), who used the quality victory to propel himself from his rather lackluster points win over Jose Ramirez in May.
It also perhaps erased some of the stained memory of being knocked down three times in an April 2024 loss to Ryan Garcia that was later turned into a no-contest after the latter tested positive for a banned substance.
"In 2024, I lost everything, everything came crashing on me," a victorious Haney said live on DAZN Pay-Per-View. "In 2025, I came to get it back, in 2026 I'm coming for everything."
During the buildup to the bout, Haney questioned Norman Jr.’s quality of opponents to his face, vowing he is on another level of boxing mastery.
Saturday night, he showed just that, finding a hole in Norman Jr.’s defense to connect on a left hook-right hand knockdown shot in the second round, before splitting the Decatur, Georgia native’s guard at will with the jab and all-around brilliant boxing the rest of the way through.
Norman Jr. (28-1 with 1 no contest, 22 KOs) did not help his cause by keeping his head on the center line, allowing Haney to land the jab with ease.
Though Norman Jr. had a good showing for himself during the eighth, ninth, and 10th rounds, the effort was way too late to prevent his first professional loss.
