Devin Haney: Jorge Linares will be the best opponent I’ve faced, fans want me to step up

Devin Haney is now officially set to defend his WBC lightweight title against Jorge Linares on May 29 in Las Vegas, live on DAZN, a fight that had been expected to be announced for a while now, with various working dates before the official announcement.

Haney (25-0, 15 KO) has no arrogance going into this fight, calling Linares (47-5, 29 KO) “the best fighter I will have ever faced in my career.”

“He’s a three-division world champion who has fought at the championship level for the past 13 years,” Haney said. “I grew up watching Linares. Boxing fans around the world are eager to see me step up in competition which is great, and I know Linares is coming to fight. I’m ready to give the fans a spectacular performance.

“The better competition brings the best out of me. Against Linares, I’m going to show the world why I’m the king of the lightweight division.”

Haney, 22, is correct that the 35-year-old Linares will be his best opponent yet, at least on paper, and the good news about that for Haney — and for fight fans who want to start finding out how good Haney really is — is this is a fight where he should be able to get real credit if he can win impressively once again.