Darshan DesaiUncrownedTue, November 25, 2025 at 11:44 PM UTC·6 min readDevin Haney outclassed Brian Norman Jr. this past Saturday to capture the WBO welterweight title and become a three-division world champion. It was a masterful showing from Haney, who dropped Norman in Round 2 and dominated the rest of the fight for a one-sided victory on the scorecards. Haney's win saw him enter many pound-for-pound rankings, including Uncrowned's top 10 — but one man who was left unimpressed was Conor Benn.
Benn, who watched from ringside, could be seen on the broadcast pretending to fall asleep at times or scrolling through his phone. The British contender, who defeated Chris Eubank Jr. earlier this month, said that Haney's performance was not entertaining, a criticism that has often been leveled at Haney's fights.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHaney responded to the comments Tuesday on Uncrowned's "The Ariel Helwani Show."
"Conor Benn is Eddie [Hearn's] little puppet," Haney said. "Eddie is his master, so he does what Eddie wants him to do. Conor Benn hasn't accomplished nothing, nowhere near what I've accomplished. If we both were to retire today, ask boxers, ask the fans — whose career would they rather have? My career or Conor Benn's career? And I'm younger than Conor Benn.
"He hasn't done nothing in the sport of boxing. His biggest win is against a weight-drained guy [Eubank]. He lost the first fight. He had to rematch him to get a win against a guy that was weight drained. He needed a rematch clause with all the stipulations — that's the biggest win of his career.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"And the guy that he lost to, that he weight drained to put all these stipulations on, was never even [a] world champion. And I love Chris Eubank, but he was never even world champion. You can't even put us in the same sentence. He's nowhere near my level. He's Eddie's little puppet. He does what Eddie says."
Bill Haney, Devin's father, was ringside when Benn defeated Peter Dobson in Las Vegas in February 2024. At the time, the elder Haney congratulated Benn and said it would be an honor to make a fight between his son and Benn. Benn has appeared on Haney's target lists since, as although his in-ring achievements are dwarfed by the newly-crowned welterweight champion, Benn is a massive star in the UK.
At one point, Haney and Benn shared a promoter: Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing. Haney, however, left Matchroom to pursue an undisputed title fight with George Kambosos Jr. in 2022. He returned briefly in 2023 to fight Regis Prograis, and Matchroom was also involved in Haney's 2024 fight with Ryan Garcia, but the relationship has since fallen apart.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTensions rose in June 2024 when Hearn refused to bid on Haney's fight with Sandor Martin, claiming that it was unappealing. Haney — a free agent at the time — said Matchroom's failure to bid was "nasty work," but it wouldn't prevent him from working with them in the future. Since then, there have been multiple public disputes between the pair, including a heated confrontation during Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois in September 2024.
Hearn was also left unimpressed with Haney's performance against Norman and reiterated Benn's belief that the former undisputed champion was "fighting scared."
"It sounds like Eddie Hearn is hating," Haney responded. "He's like a bitter ex-girlfriend of mine. Every chance he gets, he talks bad about me to this person and that person. I hear everything that he says to promoters, to fighters. Eddie Hearn cannot stop bringing my name up.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"Eddie Hearn is bitter. After the Ryan fight, he counted me out. He said I wasn't going to make anything over a million dollars, my worth dropped, I was chinny, I couldn't take a punch, I didn't have no confidence. He said I was going to lose to Brian Norman. Eddie Hearn — every chance he gets, he hates."
Even though Benn and Hearn haven't been writing home about it, Haney's performance was a necessary reminder to fans that he still has what it takes to compete at the elite level. After his fight with Garcia, Haney endured a difficult 18-month period which included his dull contest with Jose Ramirez at Times Square and a publicly condemned lawsuit against Garcia. Haney lost lots of fan support during that time and became accustomed to being booed out of venues, but on Saturday night, it felt as if Haney redeemed himself within the boxing fraternity.
"I just know that a lot of people wrote me off," Haney said. "They didn't believe that I could get it done. I think a lot of people underestimated me. My opponent underestimated me. The media, the fans underestimated me. I just showed that I'm not one to be doubted. I'm not one to be taken lightly."
"Of course, me going into this fight as an underdog was very surprising for me," Haney continued. "I just use it as fuel. I saw what everyone was saying, that I was going to get knocked out. It's been a little over a long year for me. A lot of people said a lot of things, and I knew the time was going to come where I was going to have to put up or shut up. I was either going to make them eat their words or I was going to make their words true. This was the time, so I took it very serious."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIt was Haney's first fight at welterweight, and the advantages of moving up in weight were clear. Haney admitted that he spent too long at lightweight, and so when he eventually moved up to super lightweight, his body didn't reap the benefits it should've from filling out in size. Haney was still tight at the 140-pound limit and didn't have much room to expand his frame. But at welterweight, Haney seems to have found his home and plans to campaign there for the foreseeable future.
"I felt much better at 147 [pounds]," Haney admitted. "I thought my performance showed it. Much more of my natural self and I'll be at 147 for a while.
"I want to make the biggest, best fights happen against the best fighters in the world; 147 — I'm champion now, I want to pick up more belts."
AdvertisementAdvertisement
