Devin Haney impresses on ShoBox, looks to continue build to title
Nineteen-year-old Devin Haney turned in an impressive performance in a unanimous decision victory in his second consecutive ShoBox: The New Generation main event on Friday night, dominating veteran Mexican fighter Juan Carlos Burgos on SHOWTIME from Pechanga Casino Resort.
Haney (20-0, 13 KOs) of Las Vegas used the entire ring to dominate the former three-time world title-challenger Burgos (33-3-2, 21 KOs). Two judges scored the fight 100-90, and the other 97-93 in favor of Haney as he used angles, movement as well as even began to walk down Burgos looking to stop him in the middle rounds.
“Burgos is a crafty veteran with a lot of heart but tonight I showed the world why I’m the superstar star in boxing,” said Haney, who also promoted his first fight with Haney Promotions. “I’m ready to take on all the champions in the lightweight division. I’m the new money and SHOWTIME is my home. I’m coming for everyone!”
Burgos had moments at the beginning of the fight as the former world title challenger was game, but the youth, speed, and skill of Haney was too much as later in the bout, Burgos began to struggle to find Haney.
This was a perfect fight for Haney, who is now breaking onto the world stage via Showtime and promoting his own fights, to face a world-class opponent to see where he was.
In the highly anticipated rematch that settled little in the end, undefeated Thomas Mattice (13-0-1, 10 KOs) and Zhora Hamazaryan (9-1-1, 6 KOs) fought to a split draw in the ShoBox co-feature. The judges scored the fight 77-75 in favor of Mattice, 77-75 in favor of Hamazaryan and 76-76.
The bout saw both fighters load up on power punches with rarely a jab thrown to set up a power shot. Hamazaryan was doing well early when it appeared Mattice didn’t want to engage, but Hamazaryan’s lack of jab saw him walk into multiple hard right hands in the second half of the fight.
A draw was a fair score.
In the telecast opener, Cem Kilic (12-0, 7 KOs) remained undefeated winning a unanimous decision over DeAndre Ware (12-1-2, 8 KOs) in an all-action bout that saw 1,418 punches thrown and 494 total connects recorded. The scores were 78-74 79-73 twice, this was a wild barnburner that should be watched again if you missed it.
Super bantamweight Darren Cunningham, who is signed to Devin Haney Promotions, picked up a six-round decision over a very tough Saul Hernandez (10-12-1).
Oakland, CA super lightweight Lennard “Cheetah” Davis IV and undefeated Adrian Gutierrez fought to a six-round draw, the bout was close, but appeared that Davis needed the sixth round to win the fight. The judges saw it 58-56 Gutierrez and 57-57 on two cards
The full telecast will replay on Monday, October 1 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME EXTREME and will be available on SHOWTIME ANYTIME®and SHOWTIME on DEMAND®.