{"id":726986,"date":"2026-08-04T07:48:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T07:48:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/726986\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T07:48:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T07:48:21","slug":"devin-haney-set-for-new-fight-plan-as-keyshawn-davis-pulls-out-of-mandatory-title-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/726986\/","title":{"rendered":"Devin Haney set for new fight plan as Keyshawn Davis pulls out of mandatory title shot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Devin Haney<\/a>\u2019s immediate future has been thrown into uncertainty after Keyshawn Davis<\/a> pulled out of their mandated contest on Friday.<\/p>\n

The pair had been ordered to collide for Haney\u2019s WBO world title, with Davis having been named as the sanctioning body\u2019s mandatory challenger at 147lbs.<\/p>\n

Multiple reports then suggested that the 27-year-old was offered $3m by Top Rank, his promoter, only for \u2018The Businessman\u2019 to reject what would have been a career-high payday.<\/p>\n

Subsequently, their bout went to a purse bit hearing, where Top Rank trumped Teofimo Lopez\u2019s Takeover Promotions with a sum of $8,550,000<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This therefore gave Bob Arum\u2019s outfit the promotional rights and, as per the usual 75\/25 split in favour of the defending champion, Davis would have been entitled to a share of $2,137,500.<\/p>\n

Since Thursday\u2019s auction, though, Davis has excluded himself from the fight<\/a> and left Haney without an obvious opponent for his first welterweight title defence.<\/p>\n

Taking to social media<\/a>, WBO president Gustavo Olivieri explained that his organisation must now provide their champion with a solution.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe WBO hereby confirms receipt of written notice from counsel on behalf of Keyshawn Davis advising that he will NOT accept the 25% purse split adjudicated pursuant to the official WBO purse bid proceedings and, accordingly, will NOT participate in the WBO welterweight mandatory championship contest against Devin Haney.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn light of the foregoing, the WBO Championship Committee and Ratings Committee will convene to proceed in accordance with the WBO world championship rules and regulations. The applicable ruling will be rendered and published in due course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Re: WBO Welterweight Participant Keyshawn Davis<\/p>\n

The World Boxing Organization (WBO) hereby confirms receipt of written notice from counsel on behalf of Mr. Keyshawn Davis advising that he will NOT accept the 25% purse split adjudicated pursuant to the official WBO purse bid\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Gustavo Olivieri, Esq. (@OlivieriLaw) July 31, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

At this stage, it remains to be seen whether Haney will be immediately ordered to face a new mandatory challenger or, given the situation, have the opportunity to make a voluntary defence.<\/p>\n

Either way, the 27-year-old has not fought since dethroning Brian Norman Jr in November and is surely eager to return to action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Devin Haney\u2019s immediate future has been thrown into uncertainty after Keyshawn Davis pulled out of their mandated contest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":726987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-726986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=726986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/726987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}