Although in recent years, becoming an undisputed four, or if you add ring magazine, five belt world champion in one weight class has become more frequent. It still is a monumental achievement, considering it has only ever been done by eight men and five women since 2004.
However, to become the youngest individual to achieve this feat at just 23 is something special.
Devin Haney jabbed, punched, manoeuvred, and you could even say styled and profiled as he silenced the majority of the over 41,000 fans in Melbourne, Australia.
They all came out to watch their man George Kambosos Jr, hopefully, become the undisputed lightweight champion but quickly realised he was up against a very special boxer.
Kambosos Jr, who in much of the build up was the aggressor, talked a good came and warned Haney about what was in store for him.
Unfortunately, could not back up any of that big talk as Haney showed he was the superior boxer and technician.
This would have come as a real shock to Kambosos Jr, who took three belts off Teofimo Lopez in a split decision points victory back in November 2021.
That was Lopez’s first defeat and it took everyone by surprise. This was considering in his last outing, he dethroned Vasiliy Lomachenko, a fighter who many considered to be one of the top pound for pound fighters.
Lopez won a convincing unanimous points decision in October 2017. So following this, naturally, Lopez was considered a special talent, but he fell foul to Kambosos Jr, who then in turn, fell to Haney.
So in a way, you can say Haney beat the man, who beat the man, who beat the man, to become the man. However, when you look at all the recent fights that contested the lightweight belts in this storyline.
Haney’s win was by far the easiest and most comfortable. This is what makes him so special, it didn’t feel like he was really taken to any limit or was ever troubled, and you always felt he could go up several gears.
From the very first bell Haney’s jab got to work, Kambosas Jr who is known as a pressure fighter tried, but just couldn’t get close to Haney to put that pressure on.
When he did get close, he would get caught by a pinpoint right hand.
When he tried to set himself for any attack, his head would get rocked back by a stinging jab. Kambosos Jr would then have to set himself again and realign for another attack.
But while doing this, he would get caught by a few more stinging jabs or a sharp left hook, or a clubbing overhand right to make him rethink his strategy.
At times, Kambosos Jr would try to make it a brawl and steam in to smother Haney, but the 23-year-old, Californian native would use his feet to skilfully manoeuvre out the way, then return with an accurate shot to again knock Kambosos Jr off his rhythm.
The Aussie would then try to reset, but he would again get caught with a few stinging jabs to rock his head back and before Kambosos Jr knew it, the round had finished and he had lost another one.
That was pretty much the whole fight, it really was a masterclass from Haney. Kambosos Jr just couldn’t do anything with him.
In the end, the scorecards read Haney the winner in a (116-112, 116-112, 118-110) unanimous points victory, which I even thought the first two scorecards were generous.
As stated, it was a masterclass and I was pretty irritated by many saying the fight was boring and Haney is a boring fighter.
I mean, is it his fault he is so good he makes good fighters look ordinary?
I always say the art of the sweet science is to hit and not get hit. Of course, we all want to see and experience an all out brawl, but brawls often happen when two fighters are evenly matched. At present, no fighter has been on Haney’s level, so he does not need to brawl.
He can use his skills to box his way to victory. It was a criticism often labelled at Floyd Mayweather in the latter part of his career when he was winning on points and making it look easy.
To me, the real brilliance of a fighter is his ability to make a fight look easy. Haney’s style and abilities have often been compared to Mayweather, but again in the latter part of Floyd’s career.
Now that is some compliment, to be just 23 and being compared to Mayweather when he was experienced and mature in the ring, that really does say a lot about this young special talent.
With that said, this is just the beginning and Haney himself knows he has a long way to go to even got close to the likes of Mayweather.
He is no doubt the current king of the lightweight division, but he is in a division that’s one of the best in boxing, with plenty of talent which means plenty of challengers.
Kambosos Jr has already spoken about a possible rematch. Teofimo Lopez has only lost once, which was a split decision, so I am sure he wants his belts back and believes he is still the man.
There is also the exciting, believes artist Gervonta Davis, who holds a version of the lightweight title.
There is also Lomachenko, whose still very much in the mix. As well as, Ryan Garcia, who has a healthy rivalry with Haney from the amateurs, where Haney beat him twice on the road to winning youth belts in 2014 2015.
There is absolutely no doubt that it’s a very exciting time in the lightweight division and boxing in general.
There are so many options and big fight possibilities for Haney, that you can’t help but get excited about the future in this division and the surrounding divisions to be honest.
However, no matter what emerges, moving forward, it’s going to take a real special fighter to dethrone Devin “the dream” Haney, as it feels he is just getting started.
