It is safe to say that Jorge Linares has proven to be one of the toughest challenges for Devin Haney.

In May 2021, ‘The Dream’ successfully defended his WBC lightweight world title against Jorge Linares, who has also fought the likes of Luke Campbell and Vasyl Lomachenko. The official judges turned in a unanimous decision for Devin Haney with scores of 116-112, 116-112, and 115-113. However, things could have gone south for the American very easily, as his opponent had fired on all cylinders in the final few rounds.

In a post-fight interview, Devin Haney suggested that he was happy with the outcome of the fight and his performance. He also revealed that he did exactly what the fans wanted him to do and what they wanted to see.

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“That’s what the fans wanted to see — if I could go in there and walk my opponent down and hit him with him some big shots,” said Haney.

However, the fight wasn’t really as smooth as Haney made it out to be in this comment. Here’s what happened that night –

Jorge Linares came close to ending Devin Haney’s undefeated run

In reality, Jorge Linares showed Haney something that he simply did not expect; the May 2021 clash with Linares was the closest we’ve ever been to seeing Devin Haney lose his title. While ‘The Dream’ has faced problems against some other fighters as well, Jorge Linares was the only one who came very close to dethroning the WBC champion.

It was pretty much smooth sailing for Haney up until round 9. ‘The Dream’ proved to be the smarter fighter; he used his jab to create distance, kept Linares out of the pocket almost at all times. Furthermore, he landed effective cross shots, combinations, and showed great defense.

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However, Linares noticed a pattern in his opponent’s movements. The only time Haney ever presented an opening to Linares was when he ducked and weaved through the punches. As he repeated this for over 10 rounds, the Venezuelan knew exactly how to turn the game around in the second half.

With only a few seconds left in round 10, Devin Haney moved his front foot right into the pocket, landed a left jab, followed it up with a right cross punch. ‘The Dream’ immediately ducked to avoid any incoming shots. However, Linares hit Haney with a flurry of punches to penetrate his defense from all possible fronts. Haney then tried to step back and adopt the Philly shell, but Linares caught him with a sharp right hand to the face.

As soon as he got hit with this mean right hand, the round 10 bell went off and Devin Haney wobbled back to his corner. On the other hand, Linares mocked him by showing Haney the way towards his corner.

In the subsequent championship rounds, Jorge Linares fired on all cylinders and multiplied the volume of his punches. Despite Linares’ best efforts and one near knockdown in the final few rounds, Haney was simply the more dominant fighter for the larger part of the fight. As a result, he won via unanimous decision.

Has Devin Haney ever been knocked down in his professional boxing career?

After the fight, ‘The Dream’ even shared his thoughts on his wobble dance back to his corner. He suggested that the critics were just looking for any reason to put him down.

“You see fighters get dropped and get up from big shots and people praise them, I didn’t get dropped, I stayed on my feet, kept throwing shots and closed it out,” said Devin Haney.

This was the closest Devin Haney has ever come to suffering a knockdown. He has not tasted the canvas yet in his professional boxing career. However, one could argue that if round 10 would have gone on any longer, that narrative could have possibly changed.

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