Devin Haney remains defiant in the face of the criticism his win over Jorge Linares has received.
Haney (26-0, 15 KO's), of San Francisco, California, extended his unbeaten professional record by outpointing the Colombian Linares in the main event last Saturday night at Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Given that Linares (47-6, 29 KO's) was knocked out by Vasyl Lomachenko and Pablo Cesar Cano, Haney has been accused of lacking punching power by his former opponent, though it doesn't seem like he cares too much.
"That just showed my boxing ability,” Haney said to The Ring. "That showed that I can outbox Linares. Nobody ever outboxed Linares. Nobody ever ran up rounds like I did on Linares.
“It was either Linares was winning the fight and [they knocked him out] because they had to knock him out, or they just caught him with a big shot, like Cano did and put the pressure on him.
"Even [Antonio] DeMarco. If you look at the DeMarco fight, he was winning the DeMarco fight," he added. "If you look at the Loma fight, he was winning the Loma fight."
Linares, a former three-weight world champion, has won 47 of his 53 fights as a professional, with 29 wins coming by way of knockout.
Known as 'The Golden Boy', he is known for his heavy hands and high fight IQ, which is why Haney believes he deserves more credit for beating the experienced veteran.
He continued: "This is the guy that dropped Loma. Let’s not forget about that. He went in there [and] dropped Luke Campbell. Let’s not forget about that.
"Every guy that knocked him out he probably hurt him besides, I would say Cano. I just think Cano caught him with a good shot early, and he couldn’t [recover] from it."
Haney has now set his sights on the undefeated Teofimo Lopez Jr in an attempt to simultaneously hold all four world titles.
"I want to become the real undisputed king of the lightweight division," he concluded. "I want to make the biggest fights happen. This is the first of many, so let’s do it next."
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