Devin Haney in ShoBox spotlight Friday

By David Robinett

Seeking to take another step up the professional ladder and stand out among several promising young stars ushering in the post Mayweather-Pacquiao-Ward era, 19-year old WBC Youth Lightweight Champion Devin Haney (18-0, 12 KOs) will face his toughest opponent yet when he takes on hard-punching veteran Mason Menard (33-2, 24 KOs) on ShoBox: The New Generation this Friday, May 11 at 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. The ten-round bout will be for the vacant USBA lightweight title.

Haney, an amateur standout who was too young to compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics, decided to turn pro rather than wait another four years and took the unusual route for an American prospect of starting his career on the Tijuana club circuit, with ten of his first fifteen bouts south of the border.

“I went to Tijuana because I was 17 years old when I turned professional so it was very hard for me to get approved by any of the boxing commissions,” explained Haney. “The California Athletic Commission declined to give me a boxing license so I went to Tijuana to get some fights.”

Despite not being old enough to vote and facing Mexican journeymen with nearly thirty fights on their ledgers, Haney relished the challenge. “It was different, of course, going there into enemy ground, the whole crowd is against you,” recalled Haney. “You never know what’s going to happen with the judges’ scorecards or anything so you have to make sure that you win big.”

One of the things that helped Haney thrive in hostile territory against older, more experienced opponents, was his experience sparring against some of the best American fighters. As early as 16 years old, Haney was talented enough to be brought in to spar with the likes of Shawn Porter and Zab Judah.

“I was 16 years old when I first started sparring with Shawn Porter, and I did two whole camps with him, so that was definitely a confidence builder,” said Haney. “I knew that one day I was going to be up with the top dogs and it wasn’t going to be much longer.”

Haney also talked about how he’s improved since turning professional. “My all-around game has developed the most. I’m definitely more comfortable in the ring, my power’s gone up a whole lot and I’m hurting a lot of my sparring partners. It’s really hard for me to find sparring because I’m hurting them, I’m knocking a lot of them out. My speed, my power, everything has developed. I’m getting my man-strength.”

Despite tearing through the practice ring, Haney has still managed to find some quality sparring this training camp, getting ring time with former welterweight titlist Jessie Vargas and Top Rank prospect Andy Vences, among others, to prepare for his assignment against the dangerous Menard. The training has undoubtedly been needed to keep Haney sharp as well, as he will be coming into the fight against Menard coming off a six-month layoff, by far the longest of his career.

“For the first half of this camp I was working out in Las Vegas, getting good sparring with top level guys. For the second half of training camp I went to the Bay Area where I was training at the SNAC facility with Victor Conte. I got some amazing work out there as well.” Haney continued, “I’m not worried [about the layoff], this whole time I never stopped training, so I’m not worried about any ring rust.”

Haney has also acknowledged that, while he’s confident of victory, he realizes Mason Menard is a different level of opponent than he’s faced before as a professional. “Menard has a lot of power in both hands and he’s fought some very tough opponents,” noted Haney. “He’s got a lot of experience and is by far my toughest opposition.”

Although this Friday’s winner of the vacant USBA lightweight title will move closer to a mandatory title shot against current IBF lightweight champion Robert Easter, Jr., Haney insists that his focus is entirely on the task at hand. “There’s really no plan right now, we’re just really focused on May 11 and taking care of business and then, after that, we’ll see what happens,” said Haney. “This will be my coming out party. I’m going to show the world that Devin Haney was born for these moments and my talent will be on display come fight night.”