Why Was Devin Haney Criticized After the Yuriorkis Gamboa Fight?

In November 2020, Devin Haney defended his WBC lightweight world title against Yuriorkis Gamboa by way of unanimous decision. Leading up to the fight, ‘The Dream’ wanted to make a statement by knocking out Gamboa; however, he failed to live up to that and simply could not produce a sensational performance.

The main event at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino was Haney’s first real test on the big stage. Even though he could not put Yuriorkis Gamboa away in 12 rounds, Devin Haney managed to completely outclass his opponent that night.

The judges closed the night by scoring 120-107, 120-107, and 118-109 all in favor of Haney, and awarded him a unanimous decision win. After the fight, Haney suggested that he was happy with the outcome.

“I thought I put in a world-class performance. Of course, I wanted the knockout, but he was a crafty veteran, he was doing a lot of holding, trying to survive, I showed that I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.”

“Fighting someone like Gamboa was a stepping stone, but I’m here for the big fights. I want to make the biggest fights happen to bring the best out of me,” said Haney after the fight.

Even though he saw it as a “world-class performance,” many in the boxing community did not feel the same way about his fight that night.

Twitter dug into Devin Haney after the Yuriorkis Gamboa fight

Even though he defeated Gamboa by decision, most fans expected much more out of him. Fans expected Devin Haney to wrap up the Gamboa fight with a knockout, just like Gervonta Davis did. However, he failed to pull that off and consequently received heavy criticism from all kinds of fans due to his inability to put Gamboa away.

Haney feels Yuriorkis Gamboa was just a stepping stone

Even though he could not secure a knockout win over Yuriorkis Gamboa, Devin Haney proved to be a fine technician inside the ring. He simply outclassed and outboxed his opponent for 12 straight rounds.

In a later interview, ‘The Dream’ cleared the air by revealing that he truly wanted to knock Gamboa out; however, he simply couldn’t pull it off.

“Yea, I wanted to knock him out. I knew that he was durable and that he would try to survive, but… I figured that I could get him out of there but that mother***er stopped me.”

“I wanted the knockout. The key to it was to get the knockout. But like I said, it was just a stepping stone. It was a good experience for me, but the fights that I want are the big fights; you know, it is what it is,” said Haney.

What do you think?

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