Bill Haney Says Team Kambosos is Still Playing Hard Ball
When WBC lightweight champion Devin “The Dream” Haney (27-0, 15 KO’s) signed on for his next duel, it was known that it would be an uphill battle. Coming in, unified 135-pound champion “Ferocious” George Kambosos (20-0, 10 KO’s), forced Haney to agree to a very lopsided contract. First off, Haney would be required to travel to Kambosos’s Australian backyard. Furthermore, if victorious, he would have to face him in Australia again.
Hungry for this opportunity, The Dream eagerly committed to the deal. Then the situation got a bit more complicated as it was revealed that Haney’s father and chief second, Bill Haney, would not be able to attend the match. This is because a felony conviction from well before when Haney was born prevented him from entering the country. While there is a sliver of hope he may still make the show, it’s looking like Bill Haney will have to watch from home.
For his part, when in front of the cameras, Kambosos has maintained that he’s attempted to do everything in his power to allow the senior Haney into Australia. Although, it does beg the question: what can he reasonably do, anyway? Regardless of whether or not Ferocious does or doesn’t have pull with immigration, nothing has changed. Yet, in a recent interview with ThaBoxingVoice, Bill Haney contradicted Team Kambosos by saying not only were they not helping, they were functioning as an active antagonist.
CONFLICTING TALKING POINTS
On the bright side of this somewhat soggy situation, The Dream’s whole team minus Bill will be making the trip. Taking his place in the ring on fight night will be accomplished chief second and long-time family friend Yoel Judah. If possible though, Team Haney would love to allow Devin access to a headset and mic so that he can take remote instructions from Bill. It is known throughout the sport it is forbidden for teams to utilize communication devices in their corners during a fight due to the threat of pertinent game-plan information being passed from one team to another. Therefore, as expected, Team Kambosos would have an objection to the request.
“They are protesting that I’m not able to talk with the headset during the promotion, they don’t want to do it. You got Lou [DiBella] who is in agreement with it, you got Top Rank of course, DHP [Devin Haney Promotions] and us, we are in agreement with it, right? And they say all these things publicly that he doing to help me get there, right?
“Well the alternative to me being there is to be able to be a part of something that is cutting edge, something that can truly take the sport forward to the next level in a way that a coach can’t be there but is actually there. And we have the technology now to make these things happen. And we are getting resistance from the Kambosos team with this particular matter.”
NO APPETITE FOR FAVORS
It will be revealing to hear what Team Kambosos has to say about this topic. If Haney had the chance to somewhat level out this well out of balance situation, for competitions sake, it would be cool if this innovative amendment can be greenlit. At the same time, there is little reason to believe that Kambosos will feel the need to throw Devin Haney a bone. Regardless of how this resolves itself, 3Kings Boxing will be here to report the news!
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By: Bakari Simpson
