Brian Norman Jr has been dreaming of preventing Devin Haney, however expects his American rival to be fired up by current criticism.
Norman Jr is getting ready for essentially the most vital struggle of his unbeaten 28-bout profession when he defends his WBO welterweight world title towards Haney in Saudi Arabia on November 22.
Haney landed simply 70 punches in line with Compubox in a lacklustre factors win over Jose Carlos Ramirez as he returned from a controversial 2024 bout with Ryan Garcia, which was overturned from a factors loss to a no contest after Garcia examined optimistic for a performance-enhancing substance.
“He is the opponent I’ve been dreaming of,” Norman advised Sky Sports activities. “His strengths are his feet, his jab.
“However his weak point is Brian Norman Jr. The truth that I’m me, the truth that I put this work in, the truth that I get up early with the depth and integrity that I’ve every day.”
Norman, although, doesn’t learn a lot into Haney’s final displaying towards Ramirez.
“You can’t judge a man off of one fight,” he stated. “You return three fights, I noticed individuals say he can outbox Gervonta Davis, then the subsequent struggle with Ryan Garcia [they say:] ‘He ought to retire, he’ll by no means be the identical, he was by no means that’.
“When everything was against me that’s when I started flipping over and that’s why y’all know about me now. That’s when I started knocking heads off, so I’m pretty sure Devin is fired up as well.”
Norman’s admiration for James Toney, who held a number of world championships in three weight courses but himself had poor nights within the ring, means he is not going to underestimate a fighter on the premise of 1 bout.
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Haney defeated ring legend Vasyl Lomachenko in 2023
“I look up to James Toney a lot, great fighter,” Norman stated. “But he’s had some bad performances, why was that? Because he wasn’t disciplined in the right way so had a bad night, but should we judge his whole career off one night? No.
“Devin Haney I do know for a truth is mentally ready, he’s prepared and doing every little thing he is go to do. He sees every little thing everyone seems to be saying undermining him, however I am not going to evaluate him after one struggle.
“Straight up skill, integrity and savageness will be what wins this fight. Looking back to when I won the [interim] belt, I was catching him [Giovani Santillan] with shots but wasn’t able to hurt him until the later rounds. I got there though because I was breaking him down, chopping him down, catching him on the inside.
“I used to be breaking him down mentally, lots of people assume my energy is my specialty, however no, that is simply much more to my greatness, my IQ is what’s going to shine on this struggle.”
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Devin Haney displayed razor-sharp abilities within the rematch with George Kambosos Jr
Haney is concentrating on a world title in a 3rd weight class and Norman Jr believes he’s attracting the identical destructive opinions as Manny Pacquiao and Terence Crawford, who additionally risked their reputations with harmful fights in larger divisions.
“A lot of people try to undermine Devin Haney how they try to undermine Manny Pacquiao. They try to undermine all these guys,” Norman stated. “But what y’all don’t realise is they’re doing something y’all can’t do. Not only can’t do, they’re doing something y’all won’t do. They’re actually trying. A lot of people don’t try, and that’s what’s wrong with people.
“Let us take a look at Crawford and Canelo. Folks have been saying Crawford cannot win. Why? As a result of he is too small, he is too this, he is too outdated. He acquired every little thing towards him. Why?
“He’s still human. Canelo’s still human. So it’s just people feeling like something is impossible until somebody does it.”
