Bill Haney is furious. Once again, his son is in the firing line. Returning to the ring a year after the highly controversial bout against Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney secured a dominant win over former unified champion Jose Ramirez. However, the Times Square event, headlined by Ryan Garcia’s shocking loss to Rolando Romero, still drew sharp criticism, and much of it was directed at Team Haney.

For a comeback fight, many fans found the performance underwhelming. Sticking to the outside, Devin Haney outboxed Ramirez round after round, earning a wide decision with scores of 119 – 109 (twice) and 118 – 110. Despite the clean sweep, the former undisputed champion’s style left some fans unimpressed. Some branded the fight dull. The backlash was swift, and so was Team Haney’s response. Fighting back with facts, Bill Haney found an unlikely ally in the next day’s event in Riyadh. The Canelo Alvarez vs. William Scull bout. Using stats from both fights, he set out to prove that his son had delivered a better performance than the now-undisputed super middleweight champion.

Devin Haney: Let the numbers do the talking

Calling out what he sees as bias in boxing commentary and fan perception, Haney Sr. declared, “The playing field isn’t level‼️ 🤷🏽‍♂️.” He pointed to CompuBox data showing that Devin Haney landed 70 punches against Jose Ramirez and was still branded ‘boring.’

“Devin Haney landed 70 punches vs. Jose Ramírez and was criticized for being boring,” he wrote. Meanwhile, setting a new record for the lowest combined punch output in CompuBox history for a 12-round fight, Canelo Alvarez threw only 56 punches total.

In another post, Bill Haney pointed to a key difference in outcomes. “Dan Rafael and Tim Bradley said the fight was boring, but after 12 rounds with Devin Haney, Jose Ramirez ended up in the back of an ambulance—while Devin sat ringside, laughing and ready for the next challenge,” he said. Of course, that remark triggered a sharp response from Ramirez’s trainer, Robert Garcia.

Reality check vs. the hype

In fact, with zero jabs landed in the first two rounds, over 12 rounds, Canelo threw just 63 jabs, landing only 8. He was slightly more effective with power punches, landing 54% of his 89 attempts, mostly to the body. So on raw numbers, Haney clearly outworked Canelo. Otherwise, percentage-wise, Haney managed to land 31% of his punches; Canelo edged him slightly with a 37% connection rate. Still, the question remains. Does a marginally higher landing rate justify celebrating Canelo’s performance while criticizing Haney’s?

But putting comparisons aside, there are a few things to note. Devin Haney returned after a year-long layoff. Even with some ring rust, facing a former world champion, albeit a faded one, is never easy. Yet Haney came out unscathed, with a wide win on the cards.

Now, he has a chance to build on that performance, get sharper, and regain momentum in his career. Hopefully, his next outing will allow him to showcase more firepower and silence the doubters. Can the same be said for Ryan Garcia, who once again finds himself starting over?

What do you think? Was Devin Haney’s performance really that bad, or just misunderstood?