Devin Haney on Lomachenko "People Who Say I Don't Have KO Power Aren't in the Ring with Me"

FOLLOW THE PIVOT PODCAST: MERCH | https://pivotpodcast.com YOUTUBE | https://www.youtube.com/thepivotpodcast INSTAGRAM | https://instagram.com/thepivot TWITTER | https://twitter.com/thepivot TIKTOK | https://tiktok.com/@thepivot FACEBOOK | https://www.facebook.com/thepivotpodcast FOLLOW HAPPY DAD: https://www.instagram.com/happydad FIND HAPPY DAD: https://www.happydad.com/find The 29-0 young fighter has managed to become a face of the sport and doesn't back down from big fights and seeks out opponents who will continue to challenge him and keep his name atop boxing's best. Ryan talks to him about mastering the strategy and sweet science of knowing when to be aggressive in the ring and when to out smart his opponent with defense. The guys ask Devin about overcoming adversity in the ring, with Haney honestly giving his assessment of how he bounced back from being hurt with a punch for the first time in his life in his 2021 battle against Jorge Linares. With potential blockbuster fights in his future against fighters such as Gervonta Davis and Shakur Stevenson, Ryan asks Devin what separates him from those fighters and his upcoming foe, Vasyl Lomachenko. Often criticized for not having knock out power, Devin fires back that those who say that about him are not in the ring with him and he knows his abilities and will continue to pursue the path of etching his name in boxing legacy long after he stops fighting. With success, comes fame and Devin has experienced his life in the public eye and has altered his lifestyle to adapt to the constant changes of social media and paparazzi trailing his moves to create stories. Staying grounded is something his father instilled in him from a young age and being over cautious in his personal life and outside of boxing has helped him stay on a clean path. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Flowing ad budget on metrics that look great till the CFO sees them? That's bull spend and marketers are calling it out in dashboard confessions.

• 0:09Speaker 01

  I remember telling my boss, it'll be good for the brand when leads were slow. Yeah, it it wasn't.

• 0:17Speaker 00

  Cut the bull spend. LinkedIn lets you target by company, job title and more. Advertise on LinkedIn. Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a $250 credit. Go to LinkedIn.com/campaign. Terms and conditions apply.

• 0:30Channing Crowder?

  Hey, who can't hide it? God.

• 0:32Fred Taylor?

  I see that. What's up, bro? You good?

• 0:34Channing Crowder?

  Why you let us bring your our cameras if you got seven of them following you?

• 0:37Ryan Clark?

  Nah, we work together.

• 0:38Channing Crowder?

  You know what I'm saying?

• 0:40Speaker 05

  I'm a big fan of your show. I really like I genuinely watch your show. I was watching the Kevin interview the other day.

• 0:45Ryan Clark?

  That's why I just can't be in the combat sport world, period. I feel like everybody's ultra aggressive.

• 0:52Speaker 05

  Nah, they be fake aggressive. They really, they just be talking. You would you would think it would be like, yeah, like nobody do nothing to no money. You never hear, you never hear nothing, nothing happen.

• 1:02Channing Crowder?

  You a million dollar thing, you know what I'm saying? So like now you gotta take about.

• 1:05Speaker 05

  Everybody can fight, so it's like you don't want to have to just be keep fighting. That can fight every time we both can fight. So it's like, nobody really be doing that. It's be talk.

• 1:15Ryan Clark?

  And that's the other other piece, too. They don't have anything to prove because they get a chance to do it.

• 1:20Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:20Ryan Clark?

  You know, y'all get to step into the ring and settle all scores.

• 1:24Channing Crowder?

  Great white hype. When they start to fight at the end and Samuel Jackson like, don't give him something we can make him pay for.

• 1:31Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, shit, somebody pay millions to watch this fight. Why y'all get this shit to him for free?

• 1:35Ryan Clark?

  Yeah. When they'll fight, nobody need to buy no tickets. It's gonna be 20 mother effers there that just know him. Sheesh.

• 1:42Speaker 05

  Nah, for real.

• 1:43Channing Crowder?

  So make sure we we tight, we good?

• 1:47Channing Crowder?

  Hey, you got it. Always watch the room, brother. Make sure we good.

• 1:50Speaker 05

  I don't know, it's something about you because you you know something. You know something.

• 1:55Channing Crowder?

  Hey, I can find that person every time. I know that face.

• 1:58Speaker 05

  It's something about you. I don't know where you from, but you.

• 2:00Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 2:01Speaker 05

  You're really good at scoping it out. You right.

• 2:05Channing Crowder?

  My mother gonna sit down, don't say a word.

• 2:08Channing Crowder?

  And then just start looking around at people. Oh.

• 2:11Ryan Clark?

  Hey, because when you that guy, you can't put yourself in that situation.

• 2:14Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 2:14Ryan Clark?

  Right, you know what I'm saying? You gotta sit back.

• 2:16Channing Crowder?

  That's that's T. My buddy's name's T. That's who does that for me. That's why that's T.

• 2:23Speaker 05

  He fight too though.

• 2:25Channing Crowder?

  He fight too?

• 2:25Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 2:26Channing Crowder?

  They don't really hang around folks that can't fight though. I can't fight like you, but I can fight. I can whoop some normal person's ass. I can't whoop no boxer's ass or what you name it.

• 2:35Speaker 05

  He a professional, like he, he, he eight and no, his name is Mabari Jones, he eight and no, seven knockouts. So he, you know, he the truth too. He the next one up, so.

• 2:43Channing Crowder?

  What about a middle school legend that was whooping ass since nine years old?

• 2:46Speaker 05

  Oh yeah, that's cool too, that's cool too.

• 2:49Channing Crowder?

  Hey, not when he forty.

• 3:16Ryan Clark?

  Welcome to the show. Freddie T, Chan, I'm RC. Here with lightweight champ Devin Haney, twenty-nine and no, a flawless record. And you've done it in a way that's shown nothing but being a professional technician, a high level of skill. And you've actually made fighters who people consider high level fighters, look like B and C level fighters. You know, you could look as recently as your last two wins over Cambosus. So happy to add, we appreciate your partnership. DraftKings, thank you for being a sponsor of the show. For all the people that watch and subscribe, we're extremely grateful. I want to get kinda to it, man, because this show is about learning about the person. We've watched you fight, we'll talk about that as well.

• 4:01Ryan Clark?

  But, you know, being a Bay Area kid, but also kinda like Chan was talking about a middle school legend, like you were throwing hands young. And you were getting into fights. And then your father said, okay, we're going to, if you're gonna throw hands outside of the ring, I'm gonna bring you into the gym. What did that moment, or how did that moment change your life?

• 4:23Speaker 05

  At that moment, I didn't know that it was changed my life. I just felt like, alright, like my dad, you say, he said he wanted to take me to the gym because I was fighting in school. I'm like, alright, like, I don't care, I'm not tripping. So I always just like naturally knew how to fight. Well, at that time, I felt like I knew how to fight. So, um, now that, you know, years and years later, hard work, dedication, and sticking with it. It, who knows where I would be if, if, if it wasn't for that, you know, I definitely feel like I would have went down the wrong road. Um, just because I was just beginning to so much trouble at a young age.

• 4:55Ryan Clark?

  What do you feel some of those anger issues were, or why do you think you had them at that time?

• 5:01Speaker 05

  I don't know. I mean, I just feel like I didn't really know how to like, you know, like where to put my energy, like, you know, where to put like, you know, my love to fight my, you know, my aggression, where, where, where to, you know, put it. And my dad, you know, he chose the, the, the, the right sport, the right thing for me to, you know, get all that out.

• 5:20Channing Crowder?

  Y'all moved to Vegas because of your career, right?

• 5:23Speaker 05

  Nah, we moved to Vegas because just we come from Oakland, California, where it was just a lot of violence, a lot of, you know, shootings, a lot of stuff. So it was like, we came to Vegas for like a better life.

• 5:34Channing Crowder?

  As a young athlete that, that, like, when we play football, you ain't no nine-year-old that you gonna make it.

• 5:39Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 5:39Channing Crowder?

  You know what I'm saying? As boxing, you were ranked as a kid.

• 5:42Speaker 05

  Yeah, but at, at, at that time, you know, we just like, it, we still didn't know like, you know, how far I could take it. Or we wasn't really that dialed in with boxing. It was just really just to leave open just for a better life. That was the main thing. Like, we was, we, we would have boxed forever. Like, we really wasn't that as serious as we got when we were in Vegas. And that just comes from it being the boxing capital of the world and being so many gyms and like, people are serious about boxing in, in Vegas and in the Bay Area, it's not really that many boxers. Now, now it's starting to be more and more, but at that time, we only had Andre Ward and that, that, we never really had no big boxers come out of Oakland. So it was hard to really like, look at somebody big from the town.

• 6:22Fred Taylor?

  You've been fighting since you were seven. And like RC said, you're twenty-nine and O. And boxing is sort of taking this entertainment approach. You got football players getting in the ring boxing. You got YouTubers boxing. And, and, and you have someone like yourself, passionate, dedicated, been doing it your entire life, yet you have to, fight under a Logan Paul or YouTubers, undercard. Does that sit well with you?

• 6:47Speaker 05

  Nah, I mean, at that, at that time, when I did do that, when I did fight on the undercard of Logan Paul, it was like, it was a good opportunity because they just had so many viewers. Like, I think it was the first YouTube boxing match. So it was just a different audience, different crowd. I think that, you know, the football players, athletes, the, the influencers coming to boxing is good for boxing. Like, it's making boxing even bigger. Boxing is evolving because of that.

• 7:09Ryan Clark?

  You speak of boxing evolving, you had a different route. We hear all the time about the boxers who get opportunities to go to the Olympics and they fight amateur, uh, Lomachenko, who you'll be fighting. He fought amateurs for a while. He has two medals in the Olympics, but for you, you chose to turn professional extremely young. I think they moved the Olympic age up.

• 7:31Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 7:32Ryan Clark?

  And you were fighting in Tijuana.

• 7:33Speaker 05

  Mm-hmm.

• 7:34Ryan Clark?

  I think, what was it, El Perro Salado.

• 7:36Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 7:37Ryan Clark?

  What was that experience like for you, being so young, fighting professionally?

• 7:40Speaker 05

  It was crazy, you know, to be fighting in Mexico. Um, and I was really one of the like, like the first ones to really like make it kinda cool to go to, to go to Mexico. At that time, Olympics was a big thing. It was to go to Olympics, go, you know, try to get a medal, try to go sign with a big promoter, you know, for a good signing bonus and go that route. But, you know, me and my dad set out to do something different. We just, we switched it up totally. And that is because they changed the age of the Olympics. So it was like, man, we might as well just go pro. And, cause I was sparring a bunch of pros, like world champions at that time. So, um, that, that, that's what we did. And it was, it was crazy being such a young kid as a professional, but it worked out.

• 8:23Ryan Clark?

  You know, you do a lot of stuff young. Is it true you knocked a kick boxer out of his Velcro shoes?

• 8:28Speaker 05

  Yeah, when I was like, no, when I was like, it was my first sparring match, like as a kid, I didn't know what I was doing. I really was just street fighting. And it was like a little kid, he had like some Velcro shoes on, knocked my shoes.

• 8:39Ryan Clark?

  It's crazy, cause you talking about you going pro and, you know, just deciding that early. What's the pros and cons of that? For that young boxer out there right now, thinking about making that decision of when to turn pro and do I do amateur? Like what, what was the pros and cons?

• 8:54Speaker 05

  Like with that was, I could've went to the Olympics and I felt like I would've did good in Olympics. I could've got a gold medal, could've got a silver medal, could've got a bronze. But, you know, that sets you up for the pros. You can go sign with a big promoter and, and, and start making money at a young age. I didn't start making money until, uh, my 19th professional fight. So I was fighting for nothing. I was fighting for free. And, um, but I saw the bigger picture. I knew that like it was gonna pay off, uh, eventually.

• 9:19Ryan Clark?

  You like to keep all your money with you on your neck?

• 9:22Speaker 05

  Oh, nah. If I kept all my money on my neck, boy, hey, my neck would be so heavy.

• 9:29Fred Taylor?

  Hey, so we're talking about you being so young, doing all these amazing things. It was also brought to our attention that you were the youngest promoter too.

• 9:37Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 9:38Fred Taylor?

  What nurtured that mindset?

• 9:39Speaker 05

  Yeah, I mean, just seeing somebody like Floyd, who, you know, was, was, started his own promotional company. And, uh, you know, me and my pops, he was like, man, we might as well do it ourselves. That way we can control our own destiny. It's never like a reason why a fight couldn't happen or, you know, this side. Now in boxing, they got this thing called on this side of the street. If you work with one promoter or one network, you can't go mess with another promoter or whatever the case may be. Where you just cut yourself short. But I trusted in, in, in myself. I felt like I was a good enough fighter and I would be big enough that eventually I would be able to control my career.

• 10:16Channing Crowder?

  And you bring up your father and he's, this y'all, he's your, what is your father? What's all his titles in your life?

• 10:23Speaker 05

  Oh, man, my pops is, is, is everything, you know? He's, he my best friend, he my, he my father, he my, man, he's, he's everything, man. He play, he plays all the roles, whatever role he, he, he needs to play. So, uh, I'm, I'm thankful for that.

• 10:36Channing Crowder?

  I've seen that movie already. I've seen what, um, Roy Jones Jr. with his dad had to break off to win the title.

• 10:41Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 10:41Channing Crowder?

  Shane Mosley, him and his dad would, you know, they were together and I think they broke up. And then how, how do you and your father work together as a son, father combination, also as business partners? But it's your career, you out there taking them punches.

• 10:55Speaker 05

  At the end of the day, you know, um, you had to know that balance, you know, when, how to, when to be a dad and when to, you know what I'm saying? Business is business at the end of the day. So we don't ever put the personal with the, with the business. We know, we know how to separate the two. And I just come from experience, I'm not gonna say that we just had to, everything's been butterflies and rainbows, you know? Of course, we, we bump heads, but we bump heads as, as partners and we need a father, son relationship out of it and we get over it.

• 11:20Channing Crowder?

  I just got, I remember, cause we talking about your chains. I remember my mom had my financial advisor's information at one point. When I first got in the league and she came up to me one month and she said, Channing, you spent a hundred thousand dollars partying last month.

• 11:34Speaker 05

  Sheesh.

• 11:35Channing Crowder?

  And I said, I earned it and I walked into my room. And that was like, I'm saying that cause that was the moment where it's just financially, I had, that was just, I earned it. That was me telling her like, it's my money, I'm a grown man, I'm gonna do what I want with it.

• 11:47Fred Taylor?

  How much you spent in the strip club?

• 11:49Channing Crowder?

  Ninety-nine thousand. The rest was clothes. Because I don't really wear no nice clothes, but I'm throw some money. But the out of the ring stuff with your pops, the chains. Like your dad ever look and be like, hey Dee, you need a ninth chain, a 12th chain?

• 12:04Speaker 05

  His money, his money, my money, my money. So, you know, I can't tell him what to do with his money, he can't tell me what to do with mine. You know, we separate too. You know, he get his, I get mine. What I do with mine is what I do with mine.

• 12:15Ryan Clark?

  With that though, and speaking about the relationship and, you know, we've got an opportunity to kind of laugh at some of the dynamics. He, for a period of time, couldn't get a visa.

• 12:26Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 12:26Ryan Clark?

  For the first Cambozas fight. And it was one of those times where you guys were working. He said during that period of time, of all the things he's accomplished, raising you is the one he's most proud of. When you hear that, what does that make you feel?

• 12:43Speaker 05

  It's a blessing and at one point when I was a kid, I actually like just wanted to make my dad happy.

• 12:49Ryan Clark?

  The reasons he couldn't get the visa, he learned from those things and wanted to instill a different form of success, a different form of lifestyle for you. And he did that. And for that to be his proudest accomplishment, not necessarily the fighter you are,

• 13:05Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 13:05Ryan Clark?

  but the man you are. When you think of him loving you in that manner, what do you feel?

• 13:13Speaker 05

  I mean, like I said, when I was a kid, man, I just wanted to make my dad happy. Like I used to just like try to train hard just to make my dad happy. I used to try to spark good just to make my dad happy. Everything was just to like, to see a smile on my dad's face. So just to, you know, come this far and to my dad to be like genuinely happy with, you know, the creation that he made, what he's, what he's, you know, made in me. And the man that I've become is a blessing and I'm happy, I'm happy and proud of that.

• 13:38Ryan Clark?

  That's awesome. So this is, this is my...

• 13:42Ryan Clark?

  Boxing question. I love the sport. I love, like people say, the sweet science of boxing. Because of mixed martial arts and UFC, that's a little bit more barbaric, where you see guys get knocked out. Fighters like yourself have started to be criticized for being a tactician, for understanding how to hit and not get hit. How does that affect your approach to fighting?

• 14:09Speaker 05

  I mean, that's the art of boxing. At the end of the day, that's the sweet science, to hit and not get hit. I mean, it's easy to go, you hit me, I hit you, I take one to give you one. Anybody can do that. Anybody that doesn't even know how to fight could do that. But to be able to hit you as many times as I want, and you not be able to hit me, that's an art. That's like, you know what I'm saying? That's like a Picasso, to be able to do that. And at the end of the day, I got a family. I want to have all my senses, everything, to be good when it's time to go out. So I'm going to continue to do what I'm going to do, whether they like it or not, as long as I win. And keep beating these guys easily, I will.

• 14:49Ryan Clark?

  Talk to me a little bit about late in the fight against Linares, though. You're winning handedly. He hits you. And it's a different thing when you get hit. It's, okay, he took a hit, or this guy caught up to him. Will they continue to catch up to him? What's going through your mind when you're walking to your corner in between that round?

• 15:12Speaker 05

  That was my first time ever being hurt, ever being wobbled, anything in my life. So, you know, you can't believe it. It's like a moment of shock. But once I sat down, I gathered my senses, everything. I said, okay, I'm going to tie up. I'm going to tie him up, because that's what you're supposed to do. Why would I go out and go mono to mono? You back to, you hit me, I hit you. Let's see who can knock each other out, because, and I'm hurt.

• 15:37Ryan Clark?

  What sense do that make?

• 15:38Speaker 05

  No, I'm going to tie you up until I get back right. And when I'm back right, then we can go back to fighting. And that's just experience. At the end of the day, no great fighter has had a great career. And not been hurt.

• 15:52Ryan Clark?

  It sounds strategic and it is, it's strategic, the sweet art, y'all are talking about it. But there's people that say you don't have knockout power though. What do you say to those people?

• 16:00Speaker 05

  Yeah, I mean, the people that say I don't have knockout powers are people that don't be in the ring with me. The ones that get in the ring with me, they never say that. We could go, no, no, listen, no, listen. Go watch every fight, go watch what they say after the fight. They never say that. And if I don't got knockout power, come show me then. Come, come, you know, come walk through all these punches that I'm gonna give you. And then we'll see, every fight that these guys is face beat up, eyes swollen, bloody, all that. So, man, as long as I'm winning, I got this far without knockout power, shit, let's keep going with it.

• 16:34Ryan Clark?

  Ride this train.

• 16:35Fred Taylor?

  Hey Dee, I wanna quote something you said in 2020. I'll tell you this, I will never lose to a white boy in my life. I don't care what nobody gotta say, fight a white boy 10 times, I'm gonna beat him 10 times. But I'm gonna say this, none of us in here believe you're racist. That's just off top.

• 16:53Speaker 05

  No, not at all.

• 16:54Fred Taylor?

  We grow up under certain circumstances where we see things, we hear things, and that becomes a part of us. Could you elaborate on those comments just for anybody that's listening or watching this?

• 17:05Speaker 05

  Yeah, I mean, I could see how some people could interpret it the wrong way. So, I mean, it's not to really, for me to really explain it because I already, already, you know, apologized to the world about it. So, it's not for me to keep trying to, you know, dig into and keep explaining, explaining. At the end of the day, it wasn't the right thing to say, which they interpreted wrong, but it is what it is, you know?

• 17:27Ryan Clark?

  I think that's one of those lessons that the things we say amongst ourselves that are culturally understood.

• 17:36Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 17:36Ryan Clark?

  We can't say publicly because publicly those things will be critiqued and torn down in a different way.

• 17:42Speaker 05

  To tell the truth, it wasn't the right thing to say, you know, just openly to, just to say it. Because race don't, don't, doesn't define how good you are or, you know, it's, it's, it's many great white fighters, it's many great Mexicans, Hispanics, how, black, whatever, around the world. And so, it wasn't the right thing to say, but the way, it, it didn't come out the right way. And I, I, I'm far from racist, I don't, you know, I don't have a racist bone in my body, my stepmom is white, so she. She raised me, so you know, um, but it is what it is.

• 18:15Fred Taylor?

  In that apology to everyone, you said you're chasing greatness. That process is is is never easy. And you you've done so much, you're twenty nine and oh. How do you continue to stay focused? You know, so you can get to that point where, you know, you can you can join the elites, you know, the Floyds, the undefeateds, those greats, the Mikes, the Ali's. What's the process? What is gonna take for you to get there?

• 18:38Speaker 05

  When I set out to do this, I didn't want to be just a mediocre fighter or, you know, I didn't, anything that I was gonna do, I was gonna be the best at it. You know, I want my name to be remembered forever with the greats. I want my name to live on much longer than I ever will. So, uh, you know, I'm doing the proper things that that I seen the greats do. You know, the the work ethic, the discipline, the things that I seen them do, I'm doing.

• 18:58Ryan Clark?

  You know, you talk about being mentioned with the greats. You wanted the Lomachenko fight three, four years ago. When he was at the top of the pound for pound rankings. And to now be at a point where he's almost chasing you.

• 19:13Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 19:13Ryan Clark?

  He was the hunted at that time. Now you're becoming the bigger name in boxing, the bigger name at the weight class. When you look at what he'll be fighting for and trying to gain back, what are some of the pitfalls to fighting a fighter as experienced as he is?

• 19:29Speaker 05

  Every fight, you know, we gain experience and most of the guys that I've been fighting, you know, they have, they've at at the top level have had more experience than me because I'm the the youngest guy. So each fight, I take experience from this one, this one, this one. So, you know, experience matters, but, you know, at the end of the day, I just feel like I'm the the better fighter overall, faster, stronger, bigger, uh, more more athletic and, uh, you know, I got got youth on my side. So when I'm victorious, I will take his experience and, you know, add it on to to to my belt.

• 19:59Ryan Clark?

  So when you look at boxing, especially at your weight class, you have Tank that's in the weight class, you have Garcia, Teofimo Lopez, uh, yourself, uh, Lomachenko, there are so many names. What is it that makes you feel of all those names? You can not only be the biggest star, but the best fighter?

• 20:20Speaker 05

  Oh, I just think that these guys, they, one, they don't train as hard as me. When they they they don't have the work ethic like me, they don't have the discipline like me. They don't have the the the skills, the the ring IQ. I'm really a student of the game, like since a young kid, like I can tell you boxing in and out, like the greats like way, way, way, way before my time. So, um. I just feel like I'm just naturally, God made me different. Like, I'm really one of the chosen few. And I was born to do this. How much film do you watch? When I was young, I used to watch a lot of film. I can tell you about great and slavery days. But, but, but, yeah, no, no, literally. Now, to be honest, I don't watch as much boxing as I used to.

• 21:05Speaker 05

  I tend to watch myself more than anything.

• 21:08Channing Crowder?

  Why?

• 21:08Speaker 05

  Just to critique myself.

• 21:10Channing Crowder?

  Why don't you like watching other people?

• 21:11Speaker 05

  I don't know. I feel, I don't know. I just don't really like, the fighters today don't really like entertain me. They don't really excite me. I don't really get like.

• 21:18Channing Crowder?

  That's funny, because my next question is gonna be, do you think you get the respect you deserve?

• 21:22Speaker 05

  Yeah, no, I definitely don't think that I get the respect I deserve. Especially with me being so young, the youngest undisputed champion of all time. The guy that's not ducking or dodging nobody. I've been wanting to fight whoever, whenever, however. Um, I just, I don't feel like they give me my just do. But this happened to all the greats. They didn't get their just do. And, you know, eventually, they, they did over time. And I think I will over time. So I'm not sweating it. I'm just gonna keep beating whoever they put in front of me.

• 21:48Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, and the politics of boxing is something that everybody has to understand when you're in the game.

• 21:54Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 21:54Channing Crowder?

  What's the most frustrating part about the politics?

• 21:56Speaker 05

  See, with the politics of boxing, it never really affected me because, like, like I was telling y'all earlier, um.

• 22:02Speaker 00

  Flowing ad budget on metrics that look great till the CFO sees them? That's bull spend. And marketers are calling it out in dashboard confessions.

• 22:12Speaker 01

  I remember telling my boss, it'll be good for the brand when leads were slow. Yeah, it, it wasn't.

• 22:19Speaker 00

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• 22:33Speaker 05

  When it was politics, I went to another network. I went to another promoter to make the fight happen. So what that tells you what type of fighter I am. I'm willing to go with this promoter, that promoter, this network, that network, just to make a fight happen. Go to Australia twice, take less money, do the proper things that it takes to show the type of fighter I am, to show that how great I am.

• 22:55Ryan Clark?

  You said before that, especially going into the second fight against Cambosius, which you had zero to prove, but you knew you'd beat him the first time and because of the clause in the contract, you'd have to go over there and fight him again. And you said you did that to make the fight happen. In boxing, a large critique of it or a negative has been the best fighters don't fight one another. You know, we're still waiting for Errol and Bud. Obviously, we have Garcia and Tank. They settled that score. Now you and Lomachenko. What do you think boxing can do better to make sure that fighters of your caliber get the type of matchups that make y'all stars? Because, you know, you're a historian of the game.

• 23:40Ryan Clark?

  The reason boxing was big is because we saw Hearns and Hagler. We saw Hagler and Leonard. You saw Leonard and Roberto Duran. What do you think boxing needs to change to make sure that happens?

• 23:51Speaker 05

  Fighters gotta want it at the end of the day. We are bosses. We just don't know it or we don't, you know, we don't even push for it. But we got to say, if a fighter really wants to make the fight happen, then they'll press to make it happen. But fighters will just use the excuse of their promoter or network or something like that. And sometimes it's true. Not saying that it's always the case. But for the most part, we need to try to control our own destiny, try to control our own careers. You know what I'm saying? We're not under an organization like the NFL or like NBA or nothing like that. Like, we have to say, we just don't, you know, express it enough.

• 24:26Channing Crowder?

  But isn't your thought process, with being respected by a bunch of 40-year-olds, isn't that old school? That fight anybody anywhere, anytime? Like, people are strategizing their careers and you seem like you old school, walk him out here and I'm gonna knock his ass out.

• 24:41Speaker 05

  Yeah, no, for sure. Now, that's definitely, I'm definitely a throwback fighter when it comes to that. Not many fighters do that. But not many fighters want to fight, you know, each other. They want to try to get most money for the least tests or the, you know, the easiest fights possible. And I, and I all fighter, I'm not here to bash fighters, nothing like that. Cause it's some fighters out there that's, that when I want to fight the best and want to test theyself and, and are fighting the, the, the best. Look at Canelo, he going up and down, up and down weight classes and guys like that are doing it, but it's just some fighters who, who don't.

• 25:13Channing Crowder?

  Is it smart to not play, to not play the, the dance around strategically find fights?

• 25:19Speaker 05

  I mean, it depends how you look at it, cause we could change the whole dynamic of boxing and make it like the UFC. Those guys fight each other, lose, fight, fight again, still equally as big, may even be even bigger after a loss. Look at, uh, Israad Asayyan, he, uh, he lost and then came back, won and now he even bigger than he was before. But just cause he lost and then he came back and proved himself. So we could change the whole dynamic of it, but we're not, you know, Floyd kinda like, of course Floyd made the boxing bigger and everything, but he kinda messed up the game with the undefeated record and undefeated is everything. So guys don't want to fight each other, they want to keep the, oh.

• 25:56Fred Taylor?

  We spoke about guys just talking the talk and we said it was capped. A lot of fight this, fight that.

• 26:01Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 26:01Fred Taylor?

  But when you hear comments coming from Shakur Stevenson and then, uh, Garcia saying they want to fight you. Channing said you might feel somewhat disrespected, like you don't feel that respect that you've earned. But when you hear those comments, what does that make you feel like?

• 26:17Speaker 05

  I think that that's given me the respect that I, that I earned because I remember it was a time when guys wouldn't even call my name, like they was like, they wouldn't even act like I even existed. So it's like a compliment that they mentioned my name, that they say my name because it's like, yeah, I'm, I'm the guy, I'm the guy with, with everything, I'm the guy with the belts. So you better mention my name because if you don't, then I'm gonna say you duck it. I'm gonna say that you scared to say my name. So now that they say my name, I can't be mad at it. I'm, I'm happy, that's, that, that's good, I embrace it and I want to make those fights happen. So yeah, it's, it's a good thing. People were looking at me like, oh, you're not mad? No, I'm not mad at all, that Shakur said my name. Good, good for him, he's supposed to say that.

• 26:55Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 26:55Speaker 05

  That shouldn't be frowned upon now. Nowadays you call a fighter out, they get mad. Ain't just a fight game, ain't we supposed to be fighting each other? Ain't we supposed to be calling each other out?

• 27:03Channing Crowder?

  How old are you again?

• 27:06Ryan Clark?

  He act like he 48, don't he?

• 27:10Fred Taylor?

  He was born my rookie year, just say that, 98. Yeah.

• 27:13Ryan Clark?

  No Fred, if he was born your rookie year, he'd be 40 by now.

• 27:18Fred Taylor?

  You're lucky we don't curse on the show too, man.

• 27:21Ryan Clark?

  And that's a lie, we do. I'm just glad you don't curse me. You mentioned earlier the dedication you have to the sport, your work ethic, and obviously when we cracked open the Happy Dad, you mentioned your faith. How much does that help you in continuing to be disciplined? Because it's so much in order to honor what you need to do. As your faith is concerned, it can help you from falling into some of the trappings that come with being a big time boxing star.

• 27:51Speaker 05

  Yeah, I mean Islam has definitely changed my life and it just keeps me grounded all around. Like, you know, Allah is looking at everything, that every decision that I'm making. And it keeps me grounded, it keeps me disciplined. Not only, you know, for boxing, but just for life. So outside of the ring, when it's time to celebrate everything, I'm still disciplined.

• 28:11Channing Crowder?

  I don't know all the rules of the nation, but does it, do you have to work around things while training?

• 28:18Speaker 05

  Yeah, so we have a time of Ramadan where we fast. And I'm always, I always have a fight around Ramadan. So I can get the excuse of saying, you know, God, you know, this is my job, it's how I feed my family, I can't fast right now. And, you know, just basically excuse me or I could make it up after Ramadan. And that's what I do because it's just too hard for me to train. I'm training three times a day. So I can't, it's hard for me to fast and not drink any water and make all my prayers and everything, which I try to make all my prayers. I try to be the best Muslim I can be, but it's hard for me to fast.

• 28:54Channing Crowder?

  It was just a show on with that basketball player.

• 28:56Speaker 05

  Mahmoud Abdul-Rahim.

• 28:57Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, he got criticized.

• 28:59Speaker 05

  Really?

• 28:59Channing Crowder?

  He wasn't putting his hand over his heart and different things, you know, for the national anthems and all, and he got criticized. But now, does anybody care? You hear anything about your religion?

• 29:08Speaker 05

  No, there's so many Muslims around the world that they just, we embrace each other, like all the Muslims, they embrace me. I embrace, you know, any Muslim that I see. I'm not even familiar with him, but I will embrace him and, you know, maybe reach out to him. I wasn't familiar with him. But, man, so much support from the Muslims around the world.

• 29:28Fred Taylor?

  Does fasting include abstaining?

• 29:30Speaker 05

  You're not supposed to have... Sex sun up to sundown unless you having sex with your wife during Ramadan. You gotta be married to have sex.

• 29:38Fred Taylor?

  And we had Caleb playing on and I believe, I don't know if it was chanting. We had somebody's training camp because this the freaky dude right here in the whole.

• 29:46Channing Crowder?

  He lasting the night.

• 29:48Fred Taylor?

  He said if he had.

• 29:49Channing Crowder?

  I be on FaceTime with my wife at the hotel last night.

• 29:53Fred Taylor?

  This dude crazy.

• 29:55Channing Crowder?

  This was, it don't have so many hoes you can get. I ain't gonna waste none of mine.

• 30:00Speaker 05

  Soon, every night.

• 30:01Channing Crowder?

  Got to. That get you cleanse back out.

• 30:04Speaker 05

  When you was playing, you would still almost every night?

• 30:07Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. That night before the game, now you gotta go, you know.

• 30:10Fred Taylor?

  That's why, that's why he had seventeen knee surgeries.

• 30:12Channing Crowder?

  Listen, they would put all this on me. I don't know about all that.

• 30:14Speaker 05

  He was having back problems?

• 30:15Channing Crowder?

  What's that?

• 30:16Speaker 05

  You see why they said Scottie Pippen, he was having back problems because.

• 30:18Channing Crowder?

  Cause he was stroking.

• 30:19Ryan Clark?

  Girl said four times a day.

• 30:21Channing Crowder?

  That's a lie.

• 30:21Ryan Clark?

  You also gotta think about this too, Devin.

• 30:23Speaker 05

  That's a lie, right?

• 30:24Channing Crowder?

  That's a lie. Nobody can have sex four times a day, every single day.

• 30:27Ryan Clark?

  And a lot of this sex he's talking about is with himself too.

• 30:30Speaker 05

  Ah, okay.

• 30:31Fred Taylor?

  Ninety, ninety-two percent.

• 30:33Channing Crowder?

  Yes, man.

• 30:34Speaker 05

  Yeah, you know, like, like Islam, we're not supposed to even watch porn, man. We can't, we can't watch porn.

• 30:38Channing Crowder?

  I don't get that part. I get a lot. I get, I get, I get being faithful. I get a lot of things. I don't get not being able to pleasure yourself. It's yourself. I feed myself, I wash myself.

• 30:48Speaker 05

  But you watching other people.

• 30:50Channing Crowder?

  What if it's just one person?

• 30:52Speaker 05

  What you mean?

• 30:52Channing Crowder?

  If she's just dancing and OnlyFans.

• 30:55Speaker 05

  That's porn.

• 30:58Ryan Clark?

  Devin, he is gonna find a way around the rules and the beliefs.

• 31:03Speaker 05

  Yeah, he gonna bend, he gonna bend the world.

• 31:04Channing Crowder?

  He gonna bend, man. He gonna weave, man. He's gonna weave in and out.

• 31:08Speaker 05

  What was your question? What you was?

• 31:10Fred Taylor?

  Oh, nah. So in training camp, I was like, what's your cutoff? Cause Caleb told us he's at eight weeks. He does nothing too much.

• 31:18Speaker 05

  So, yeah, I used to do that. I used to do the eight weeks, the eight week thing. And, um, I couldn't do it because I, I started getting like wet dreams when I get closer to my fight. Like one day I had a wet dream the day of the fight. So I couldn't, I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it.

• 31:32Fred Taylor?

  Y'all might be brothers because he horny too.

• 31:34Channing Crowder?

  That's the best dream.

• 31:35Speaker 05

  No, because like.

• 31:36Channing Crowder?

  Who want a regular dream?

• 31:37Speaker 05

  You know, like, when, when you got like too much testosterone, when it's like too much built up, then your body gonna find a way to release it. So when you go too long, that's, that's too long.

• 31:46Channing Crowder?

  Brahma bull. Some horses are made to work. Some horses are made to breed. We're breeders.

• 31:53Channing Crowder?

  We got testosterone in us, we breed, we make babies.

• 31:56Ryan Clark?

  You never want to be in any sexual category alone with Shannon.

• 32:01Speaker 05

  One day is like ridiculous, like, um, even out of training camp, I can't, like, every day, nah, that's crazy.

• 32:08Channing Crowder?

  Not like a great performance jumping off the nightstand, a quickie? In the bathroom, she doing her hair.

• 32:14Speaker 05

  I be trying to prove myself when I go.

• 32:16Ryan Clark?

  See you young, see you young.

• 32:19Channing Crowder?

  No, no, you don't always gotta throw, throw your best pitch.

• 32:22Speaker 05

  I make them crazy.

• 32:23Channing Crowder?

  You ever seen a change up in baseball? The guys throw ninety-nine, they throw that little seventy-eight. Sometimes you gotta throw a change up on the plate.

• 32:31Speaker 05

  Hundred miles an hour fastball, fastball, every time.

• 32:34Ryan Clark?

  Every time.

• 32:34Speaker 05

  I'm proving myself, I got, man, I'm young, I gotta, these girls gonna talk bad about you if you don't, I gotta, I gotta.

• 32:42Speaker 05

  I gotta, so they can tell the next.

• 32:44Ryan Clark?

  So you just, my dog, like, I'm not gonna have a BDR out there, there would be no bad penis reports.

• 32:49Speaker 05

  Nah, I'm just kidding, I don't be, I don't be out here, man.

• 32:52Ryan Clark?

  But for, for you though, in becoming a star, obviously, social media now as well is such a, a huge thing to continue to brand yourself. I mean, you walked in here with seventeen people, fourteen cameras, a boom mic. In having that, how do you deal with making sure the main thing stays the main thing, but also being a young man your age and enjoying life?

• 33:15Speaker 05

  I just think that, you know, Islam keeps me grounded, keeping my head on a swivel, you know, lets me, makes me not get too far ahead of myself, not too arrogant, too flamboyant, fearing God. And, you know, trusting in that, you know, what God can give you, he can take away. Well, Allah, everything that Allah has given, given me, he can take away at any given time. So I continue to work hard for it, to keep it, you know, cause I knew that one day I would be here, I knew everything that Allah, I knew that eventually it would come, so, um. Now it's just about keeping it and I wanna, I wanna get more and more and more and more.

• 33:47Ryan Clark?

  How do you feel about being in the spotlight with having people not only wanting to know about who you are as a boxer, but who you are as a man? You continue to mention the Islamic faith and you mention Allah. You mentioned all the things that you know God has given you, but you are in a world where if you are dating somebody or if you get into an altercation, it's your face that's plastered over. People now begin to praise you. How do you continue, aside from the faith, how do you continue to have humility in that? Or did you always want this level of fame?

• 34:24Speaker 05

  When I was young, I just think like, it was like cool, like damn, like I wanna be like famous. I wanna be lit. I want people to like wonder, wanna know about me and everything. And then when I got it, it was like, oh my God, like you can't, I can't even go on a date with somebody without like just, I could be, it could be our first date or just us getting to know each other and we might be at Mastro's or wherever. We might go out to dinner and the world's saying we together. So like, that's like where it's like, damn, like you know, you came and just get to know somebody and go be a regular person. Somebody see you out, they take a picture, send it to a blog and now all of a sudden you dating that person. And now you, you take on the responsibilities or what, they can go be out with somebody the next day and they cheating on you or you go be on a date with somebody else and you cheating on them.

• 35:08Speaker 05

  So that's, that's the only thing that uh, well, that's one of the things that, that, that I'm like, oh my God, I don't like, but it comes with it, you know, you, it's, it's hard to say you want the, to, to be the best fighter in the world. You wanna have the money and everything, but you don't want people to know you. You don't want people to look in and microscope on your life. I mean, it, it, it all comes with it. So I'm thankful, I'm thankful that I'm in this position, but it does get, it does get annoying.

• 35:33Ryan Clark?

  You know, Mastro's is hard. I heard sometimes Dubai could be hard too. Like if you were, What's Mastro's? Mastro's is a restaurant.

• 35:41Speaker 05

  Restaurant right here.

• 35:41Ryan Clark?

  You've been to Mastro's before. Oh, I have. You've been to Mastro's. I thought he took girls to the Applebee's. No, he don't, he don't go to Applebee's.

• 35:49Speaker 05

  Nah, I will, I will go to Applebee's. I, I will, I will.

• 35:52Channing Crowder?

  I like it. And you have, you have entourage on your dates?

• 35:57Channing Crowder?

  Really? You, if it's you, is it you and the lady, or is it a whole fleet of people?

• 36:01Speaker 05

  Nah, I mean, I'll go by myself, I'm, you know, but most of the time it'd be just my, me and my security.

• 36:06Channing Crowder?

  You got a little security. That's, that's hard, that's hard on a date, though.

• 36:09Speaker 05

  No, no, he won't be on a, he won't be on a date. He'll, he'll be in the car, he'll come peek in, make sure everything good, could come, you know, do his wellness checks. Yeah, nah, he not gonna sit next to me, we can both be on a date.

• 36:22Ryan Clark?

  He gonna ask the chick, "Oh, what you want to drink?" And she, she order her drink, "What you want, John?"

• 36:27Speaker 05

  But I will go, I will go on a date by myself.

• 36:30Channing Crowder?

  But just that fame of, like, that's why I'm asking, cause about that fame, like, not even being able to go on a date by yourself.

• 36:35Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah, no, I will, I will, I will go on a date by myself, but typically, typically not. But like, like I said, it's hard to go on dates, cause every time you be on a date, somebody say y'all together, so you gotta just...

• 36:48Channing Crowder?

  Just stay at the house.

• 36:49Speaker 05

  Nah, and then you can't even bring, you can't even bring everybody to your house, cause you don't even know somebody, so you just getting to know somebody, you gotta bring them to your house.

• 36:55Fred Taylor?

  We talked about your pop, your dad, you know, wearing all these different hats. At what point during your career, as you started, you know, rise up to superstardom, at what point did he say, "Look, these, these, there's a big distraction out there, not just the fame, the money, this and that, but, but those women." When did he sit you down and wear that hat?

• 37:15Speaker 05

  So like, when I was a kid, I couldn't have a girlfriend, like, I couldn't have no girls, no nothing, like, my dad, yeah.

• 37:21Fred Taylor?

  He was focused like that?

• 37:22Speaker 05

  Bro, my dad was so strict, like, like, he was strict, like, he was like, nah, like, girls is a distraction, like, I couldn't go to, like, I couldn't really go to that many places, because my pops, like, he had started in me, like, at a young age, like, girls is, like, distractions. We never had to have that talk when I was growing, because it just never was a problem. Girls never was one of my problems.

• 37:41Channing Crowder?

  But going in, but even going in relationships with that thought, doesn't that hinder your ability to have a long-term relationship, a real relationship?

• 37:49Speaker 05

  I mean, I don't know, I guess maybe.

• 37:51Channing Crowder?

  There's some gold diggers out there. I dated plenty back in my day. But then I met my wife, you know what I'm saying? And it was a difference, but if you if you do, if I went in with my wife like I did, you know, the girl in the red dress Friday night, I would never be married right now, you know what I'm saying? So you gonna have to change that when you get older?

• 38:07Speaker 05

  It's just experience, you know, like with anything, you know, you gotta just go through it, experience. You could tell me, you could tell me, you could tell me, but I gotta experience it for myself. So right now, I'm just going through the experience, weaving it out.

• 38:18Ryan Clark?

  You've spoken about your father a ton, and rightfully so. You know, we all have children as well, and that relationship to me is one of the most important relationships I have. I do have two girls, but my relationship with my son is extremely different. The the way that we have conversations, the things that I could tell him about myself and be vulnerable, so he understands, we just share in a very different way. You didn't grow up as much with your mother, because you, you know, you were raised with your father. That experience and not necessarily having a close relationship with her, did that affect you in any way?

• 39:00Speaker 05

  I always had like a good relationship with my mom. It was, I just didn't live with my mom. My mom like was always like in my life, she was, but just from a a distance. So I can't really say like, you know, my mom was somebody I could call, somebody I could, you know, whenever I needed to talk or hear hear a woman a woman's point of view, because it's different when you just hearing a man's point of view every every time, every time. Sometimes you need, just as a as a young man, kid, whatever, growing up, you need to hear that woman's voice. You need to hear that woman's that woman's love. So my mom has, you know, been been there for me for whenever I needed that.

• 39:31Ryan Clark?

  That's important too, because pop seems like no nonsense, especially when you were younger. And I grew up with my parents being kind of both of my best friends. And I knew when I needed to go talk to my moms and I knew when it was a conversation to have with my father, you know.

• 39:48Speaker 05

  When I was young, when I was a kid, I was scared of my dad for so long, like. Bro, I was scared of my dad until I was like eighteen years old. My dad really pumped fury. No, he was like, but it wasn't even like, my dad just like, he could just yell at me, he could just talk to me and it would just like fuck up my whole day. Because it just was like my dad, like my dad was like, his voice made everything to me.

• 40:08Fred Taylor?

  That's the respect you need though.

• 40:10Speaker 05

  No, a hundred percent. And like even with, even like with today, like my dad, I feel like he too, like my dad, you know, we, we, we in a way different position than when, when I was growing up. Like at that point, it was like, the pressure was like on me, like, no, you like, we gotta make it like this, this, like, I got my family on my back. So now like seeing my little brother, my dad is much more like, you know, my little brother do what he wanna do for the most part. He, he go to football games, he kicks him with girls, he do this, he do that, like, he's, he's living the life as a kid. And so he got a, he has a, a successful big brother who give him whatever he want. And then he got a dad where he, my dad, my dad would go to sleep at eight o'clock at night. So, you know, once you go to sleep at eight o'clock,

• 40:51Speaker 05

  it might still young, you know, he can go do whatever he wanna do. He go sneak out, not saying that he do do that, but he do do that.

• 40:59Speaker 05

  So, you know, my, my dad is like, he, he older, you know, we, we, we, we successful, we financially good. So, you know, he don't really depend on my little brother. My little brother, he's, he's, he's, he's a good athlete, but he don't have that type of pressure like, like I had growing up.

• 41:15Channing Crowder?

  Speaking about your father, y'all both put in thousands of hours of work at this thing. Has that hug happened? That we made a hug? Is it gonna happen? Is it some goal in the future? But all the time you and your dad have put in, has that big hug happened?

• 41:29Speaker 05

  Oh, for sure, for sure. Yeah.

• 41:31Channing Crowder?

  When was that?

• 41:31Speaker 05

  Man, we, me and my pops, believe it or not, we hug, we hug all the time.

• 41:34Channing Crowder?

  But that, that big one, that one that all this shit done paid off?

• 41:38Speaker 05

  No, I'm telling you, we had that, like, we have like real, like, you know, hugs and like real, like, I'm proud of you, you know, we, we have that. But when we, when we was growing up, my dad never used to like really give me that like, and not like he was strict, not like he was like that, like he was just so hardcore, but. Like, I used to just be like wanting that from my dad, like, he was, no, he was there like hundred percent, but it was like, I used to be like, dad, like, did you see that? Dad, did you see that? Like, like, do you see, do you see what I did to him? Did you see that work I just put in? And now when I get older, like, now that like I get them hugs consistently, it's like, it's, it's everything for me.

• 42:15Fred Taylor?

  It's amazing for me, man, and I think we need to celebrate that more, you know, in our community. You know, when you look at the demographics, you know, or at least what the media, how it's portrayed, you know, uh, in the black community, uh, the dad, the fathers aren't present, this, that, the other. So it, it really warms my heart sitting here to see your face, cause I've seen you from way afar, right? And it's a pleasure to meet you and chop it up in this, in this space. But, you know, you can look at, you know, you're young, you're doing your thing, you're winning. To hear you talk about your old boy, like, damn, you know, the humility, the respect you have for your dad, the discipline, those things that he's instilled in you, and you're gonna take those further.

• 42:59Fred Taylor?

  I think it's great for people to hear that.

• 43:01Speaker 05

  Yeah, for sure.

• 43:02Fred Taylor?

  You know, and not have any shame about that and, and praise and promote their dad. But I say that to, to come to this, have y'all been in that ring together? Have y'all sparred or done anything?

• 43:11Speaker 05

  No, we never, we never been in there.

• 43:12Fred Taylor?

  You put your hands on him?

• 43:13Speaker 05

  No, no, no, no, no, no. I never, we never got to that point, but, no, we, you know, we'd have got to that point where we didn't like, you know, took it there where, you know, he talking crazy, I'm talking crazy, you know, where it's just at that point. But that's just regular father, you know, father, son, where we just, we just so passionate. My dad be so passionate, so it'd be like, you know, Pop, who you talking to? And then or some, it might be just some, something, something I say where it'd be like, you know, but it's just, it's just, we just, it's just true, true love, and we never get, we, we, we made that like oath with each other. We never, we may say something, but we never put our hands on each other. We never take it to that point. If, if that's the case, all right, Pop, I'll see you later. Hear what you're talking about before we get to that, get to that point.

• 43:55Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, I think, you know, you mentioned your, your little brother. A lot of times as parents, we just know what we know. And when he was raising you, he understood what he understood and he raised you the best that he could. And I think you feel that though. And you give him the respect and the love that he earned by doing that. And now with your little brother, he might look at it and say, man, Devin always wanted those hugs. He was like, pops, did you see it? So now he could give it to him because he understands how much that matters.

• 44:25Speaker 05

  For sure, for sure.

• 44:26Ryan Clark?

  And you, you taught him that. Trust me, we learn from our children. I've learned so much from raising my babies as into.

• 44:32Speaker 05

  Yeah, it's no, it's no real rule book on how to be a dad, you know, it's just experience. So we went through it with, I got an older brother as well, went through with him, then me, then my, then my little brother and I have a little sister as well. So yeah, he, I'm sure he, he has learned.

• 44:46Ryan Clark?

  You know, the, the question is, and for boxers, there's always this greatest of all time or this best. You mentioned Floyd Mayweather early and how his record kind of screwed up the game because for him, it was always about the zero. No matter what the number in front of the dash was. What is your ultimate goal? Like when you sit back at Channing's talking about that big hug, what is doing enough where you can say, you know what, everything I meant to do in this realm, in this sport, I've done.

• 45:19Speaker 05

  Ah, I can't really say because it's just so far, so far, you know, we, we, you make goals along the way and you do one milestone and you set another one. So I'm just taking it one step at a time. I'm just, you know.

• 45:31Speaker 00

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• 45:41Speaker 01

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• 45:48Speaker 00

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• 46:02Speaker 05

  I've been reading a book, it's called Chop Wood, I don't know, Chop Wood Carry Water, you ever heard of that book? To where basically like, just like, take it one step at a time, rather than trying to just go, you know, look so far ahead that you, you know, you, you get confused of what's in front of you. So, uh, right now, like, of course, I want the biggest fights in the world, but I can't get to those fights without beating Loma first. I gotta beat Lomachenko, so I gotta accomplish these goals ahead of me. And eventually, I, I'll get there to be an all-time great of, of the sport.

• 46:32Ryan Clark?

  Well, in truth, destinies change with accomplishments and opportunities.

• 46:37Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 46:37Ryan Clark?

  The more you accomplish and the more goals that you're able to attain, you normally get opportunities to up that ante, to get an opportunity or a chance to reach a different destination. So, Lomachenko, for so long, was the standard, with the way he fought, defense, quick, pressure, late in fights. What is it going to take for you to go out and beat him?

• 47:00Speaker 05

  I mean, I gotta be in my A-game. It's gonna take, you know, the, the best Devin Haney on that night. It's not going to take, you know, me slightly on or nothing like that. It's gonna take me being on point on that night, and that's what I'm gonna have to do. I'm gonna have to showcase everything in my arsenal. It's not, you know, just one way I could beat him. I gotta be able to bring out all the tools in my toolbox on that night. I gotta bring every tool with me to, to the fight, and that's what I'll do.

• 47:26Ryan Clark?

  We talked about Linares and, and being in trouble, and you saying, you know, sitting down saying, okay, I'mma, I'mma grab him, I'mma hold him until I get back.

• 47:34Speaker 05

  Senses, yeah.

• 47:35Ryan Clark?

  What happens with having adversity against this dude? Because this is a, a different level of accomplishment, a different level of experience, a different level of skill. And this puts the name Devin Haney to me on a different tier, if you get this win.

• 47:52Speaker 05

  Yeah, I mean, it's the fight game. You never know what happens, you know, you don't, you, you, you prepare for it all. But, you know, adversity may happen, you know, it's, it's hard to swim without getting wet in the, in, in the ring. You, you, you're going to get hit, and we just gotta be prepared for it. And we, we hope to go in there and make it the easiest night as possible, to go in there and to leave, you know, the way, same way I looked when I walked in, but we prepare for whatever, you know, he brings to the table.

• 48:17Fred Taylor?

  To this point, what's been your biggest pivot in life? What was that one moment that could define where you are now?

• 48:23Speaker 05

  I can't really say. I, I, I don't think I really have, have, had that moment of where I could say, oh, this is really what defined. Me where I'm at, but I can't really say.

• 48:33Ryan Clark?

  Nah, it's it's fair.

• 48:34Speaker 05

  I'm just like, I'm I'm like my biggest critic and I'm just like, nah, I need more, like more, like I need to go harder. I need I need more. I need to keep proving myself. So maybe just with me being just so just grounded and just like not like focusing on how much I've done and how much I, you know, my my accomplishments.

• 48:52Ryan Clark?

  Bro, you're not a large man.

• 48:54Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 48:55Ryan Clark?

  But you got five belts.

• 48:56Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 48:57Ryan Clark?

  What does, I mean, you got, you have them on your shoulder, one around your neck, you had the joint, cross here, like a cross body bag. What does it mean right now to to hold those belts and on May 20th, 2023, to put those on the line against Vasiliy Lomachenko?

• 49:12Speaker 05

  Those belts mean everything to me right now, uh, because I'm the man of the division somewhere is what I wanted to be for a long time now. Loma was a fight that I wanted three years ago when I had no belts. He he was, he had one belt. I was his mandatory and somehow that fight didn't happen. But now with him having to go through me and me being the man and me calling the shots and me, you know, making the cause, it it means everything. But, um, it was, you know, hard to get him, but it's definitely harder to keep him. So I'm happy that I'm in this position to prove myself and I look to prove myself and prove that I am the man. I earned these belts and I'm here to stay for a long, long time.

• 49:51Ryan Clark?

  Bro, you're the undisputed lightweight champion. And here's, I I gotta agree with Channing on this. You said you wanted this fight when Lomachenko was the man.

• 50:00Speaker 05

  Mm-hmm.

• 50:00Ryan Clark?

  You just said it. I got all the belts.

• 50:02Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 50:03Ryan Clark?

  I'm the guy.

• 50:04Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 50:04Ryan Clark?

  Why you gotta give him the fight?

• 50:06Speaker 05

  It was personal for me, you know, um, one, I genuinely just do not like the dude. I think he's like somebody who it's not who who he portrays to be. He's like very arrogant. He's very like, behind closed doors, he's not the person that he perceives to be. And I wanted that fight then and whatever, whatever, he went a different route. They said I was email champion. They said I was this. They said I was that. They said I have a real belt. And now it's like.

• 50:37Speaker 05

  I want to prove to y'all what, how much levels above him I am. This was the guy y'all chose, this guy y'all said was number one, he was pound for pound, he was this, he was that. Yeah, well, now I'm that guy. So now I'm gonna make him pay for what he put me through.

• 50:50Fred Taylor?

  Let me ask, because I don't know, so forgive me for it. Who's in charge of keeping your belts? And if you retired yesterday, do you keep all of those?

• 51:00Speaker 05

  Yeah, so like, once you win a belt, you get to keep your belt forever. Like, you know, it's like, like a ring in football or something. So, you know, it's forever your belt, but, you know, sanctioning like to actually be the champion isn't. If you lose, then the belt's gone, or you retired, then it's gone.

• 51:15Ryan Clark?

  Well, I mean, that's what matters, to continue to hold the belts. But I'm gonna say this, it's for me. I've watched you fight, I love the fight game. I think you do it the right way. For people to question what type of champion you are, when all you could do is whoever they line up in front of you, knock them down, and you've done that at the highest and most elite level. But I am beyond impressed of the man you are.

• 51:39Speaker 05

  Yes, sir, thank you.

• 51:40Ryan Clark?

  Your father should be proud. Anybody that has any association with you should be proud, man. Continue to carry yourself like this. There will be other adversities just in life, and you already know that. But you got the right type of man leading you, the right type of family around you, bruh. And like, it was a blessing to sit with you, bruh. Best of luck, man, we can't wait to see you do it.

• 52:00Speaker 05

  Thank y'all for having me.

• 52:01Ryan Clark?

  Yes, sir.

• 52:01Channing Crowder?

  Yes, sir.

• 52:03Ryan Clark?

  Bro, he act like an old man, dawg.

• 52:04Fred Taylor?

  He got it down pat, boy.

• 52:06Channing Crowder?

  You done got him.

• 52:07Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, like an old man, dawg.

• 52:09Channing Crowder?

  Real talk, man, appreciate you.

• 52:10Speaker 05

  Y'all coming to the fight? Yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, we got some tickets for y'all.

• 52:13Channing Crowder?

  Hell, yeah. Oh, we appreciate that, look at that, man.

• 52:42Speaker 06

  Every game day, you show up for your team. Now, it's your time.

• 52:53Speaker 07

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