Is a difficult backstory needed for a boxer to truly warm up to the fans? What if you don’t have one? Does that mean your achievements don’t mean as much as those who had to battle a lot of adversity in their childhood? Well, that’s what boxing trainer Greg Hackett feels is happening with Devin Haney.

Just recently, Devin Haney won back his undefeated record after NYSAC declared Ryan Garcia guilty of consuming the banned substance Ostarine before their fight on April 20. But support was hard to come by from some quarters of the boxing community. Can one of the reasons be chalked down to marketability? A lack of an engaging sob story, perhaps? Or, is it the lack of charisma or charm that makes him come across as a plain Jane?

Well, Hackett made an interesting comparison between Haney and his peers in the professional boxing circuit to showcase why the boxing community does not find him engaging enough. “He always had help. He had a father,” Hackett began as he probed the searchlight on Haney’s protected childhood under the watchful eyes of his father and trainer Bill Haney to explain why, despite great wins, he is disliked more than most of his peers. Even now, Bill Haney is his son’s trainer and manager. He accompanies Devin in all his press conferences where he proudly champions his child, and defends him from the scathing verbal attacks of his opponents.

“Everybody that had a tough story, they love in boxing. But the guys who came up with some type of good raising up, good upbringing, that mean, they don’t like you,” Greg Hackett said, summing up the psyche of many boxing fans. Haney has a squeaky-clean public image, and much of it can be credited to Bill’s parental guidance. But it acts as a detriment if you want to be a PPV megastar. Most often boxing fans likely root for a boxer with childhood trauma.

Devin Haney had been training under his father since the age of seven. At the age of fourteen, Devin even moved to Las Vegas from Oakland to be with his father, who was trying to make it in the music business while also running his own boxing gym. There, he continued to train under Bill’s mentorship.

“Tank (Gervonta Davis) got a story where Tank was by himself. He was left in a sewer hole and Calvin and Kenny picked him up out of there and raised him up. Now he is a superstar,” Hackett explained, pointing out the sharp contrast between Haney’s childhood and the WBA Lightweight champion’s tough upbringing in the crime-ridden city of Baltimore.

Was Devin Haney treated with kid gloves?

Born to parents who were crack-addicted, Gervonta Davis spent much of his childhood in foster care since the age of five. Growing up in Sandtown-Winchester, he witnessed rampant drug abuse, and gun violence in his neighborhood. As a troubled youth, he would get into skirmishes with the kids in his community, until his uncle decided to turn something “negative into positive” and put him in Baltimore’s Uptown Boxing Center, where renowned trainer Calvin Ford along with Kenny Ellis took Davis under their wing and made him into the champion that he is today.

Even ‘Bud’ Crawford, the two-division undisputed champion, gets a mention in Hackett’s analogy. Crawford’s mother would pay their neighborhood kids to beat him up. An unusual method to toughen up a kid, don’t you think? “That’s my mom, and for her to treat me the way that she was treating me, not because of she didn’t love me. It’s because of what she was dealt with. And … I wouldn’t wish that on no kid,” Crawford recalled once while talking about his painful childhood.

But there was another department that Haney supposedly couldn’t match up to his competitors in the lightweight division. Looks and charm, possibly? “Ryan is just a favorite. Girls love Ryan. teenyboppers they love Ryan,” Hackett said. Ryan Garcia is one of the biggest PPV draws, eclipsing even Davis and Terence Crawford. His good looks, combined with his ability to talk a good game provide the much-needed entertainment factor needed in the build-up of his bouts.

The lack of financial viability of ‘The Dream’s’ fights can be witnessed in the recently concluded Sandor Martin fight bid. Top Rank placed the lone bid of only $2.42 million for the fight. To make matters worse, Haney’s previous promoter Eddie Hearn, and Matchroom Boxing did not even bid for the fight.

All this goes to show that despite working hard and being a good enough boxer, Devin Haney will have a tough time impressing the boxing world and its fans. Meanwhile, his peers will always have a crutch to lean on, regardless of their talent and hard work purely because they have a good story to tell.

Do agree with Gregg Hackett’s dissection of Devin Haney’s poor star power? Let us know in the comment section below.