After Devin Haney defeated Jose Ramirez in May, he found himself at the center of heavy criticism. Fans and experts blasted the former undisputed lightweight champion for a lackluster performance that many labeled ‘boring’ and overly defensive. So when Haney’s camp announced his move to welterweight to challenge Brian Norman Jr. for the WBO title, the matchup was widely viewed as a genuine 50/50 fight.

But the reality told a different story. Having bounced back from his expunged loss to Ryan Garcia, Haney looked refreshed and determined to remind fans who he is. On fight night this past weekend, he delivered a clinic, dominating Norman Jr. in the first half en route to a unanimous decision victory. In the post-fight press conference, Haney was asked what he thought Norman Jr. did wrong in the fight, but it was Bill Haney who answered.

Bill Haney says Brian Norman Sr. made a bad decision

As Devin Haney began answering the reporter’s question, his father and coach, Bill Haney, stepped in. “I’ll tell you. Shout out to Virgil Hunter. We’ve spent a lot of time with professors in the game and learned this craft,” Haney Sr. told the reporter. He then suggested that Brian Norman Jr. learned the same craft in far less professional conditions. “They’ve learned it, unfortunately, in a garage.”

Bill continued, explaining why he felt Norman Jr.’s approach was flawed. “And he wanted to go at me, and one thing about my son, he says that you don’t give me the respect, so I come up, and I get mine, I’m going to get mine off because you disrespect me all the time,” he added. Haney Sr. argued that Norman Jr. lacked proper coaching and entered the fight with misplaced confidence. “And you say, listen, he was outcoached, he showed up late, he was too cocky and too arrogant.”

He went on to detail the preparation difference between the camps. “We showed up on November 2nd as challengers here,” Bill said at the presser. “We got acclimated by the time they showed up, we were already sparring at 4 am. He never had any days to get acclimated, guys. He was moving slow. His dad made a bad decision.” Notably, Norman Jr.’s head coach is his father, Brian Norman Sr., a former professional boxer who competed in the 2000s. 

Norman Sr. fought against names like Jean Pascal before retiring between 2009 and 2011. He came back in 2025 to face Greg Hackett and won. But since his initial retirement, Norman Sr. has dedicated himself to training his son with a blend of discipline and strategy. Regardless of Bill Haney’s belief that Norman Sr. is to blame for his son’s loss, Devin Haney maintains that it was his own game plan that secured the victory.

Devin Haney reveals his game plan to get respect against Brian Norman Jr.

Devin Haney insists his dominant win over Brian Norman Jr. was built on a simple but sharp game plan—earn respect early and take away Norman’s biggest weapon. Moving up to welterweight for the first time, Haney knew Norman doubted his power. “Part of the game plan was to sting him early, get my respect early because I knew he really believed that I couldn’t punch,” Haney said after the fight. 

That moment came when Haney dropped Norman with a crisp double left hook–straight right combination that shifted the momentum immediately. Norman Jr. had planned to bully him, but Haney quickly shut that down. “He felt like he was going to bully me… His best thing was his left hook. I went in there and took it away,” he explained. With the early statement made, Haney controlled the fight and walked out with the WBO welterweight title.

It seems that after months of criticism, Bill Haney used this moment to take a jab at Brian Norman Jr.’s defeat. But placing the blame on Norman Sr. for his son’s loss is misguided. Fighters lose—it’s part of the sport—and coaching isn’t a convenient scapegoat every time things go wrong. At the end of the day, Norman Jr. isn’t the first boxer to come up short, and he won’t be the last. But what do you think? And who should Haney fight next?