Adrien Broner evidently hasn’t lost his gabby ways.
The former champion took to his Instagram account on Thursday to send sternly-worded challenge to Bill Haney, calling for a grudge fight with Haney’s son, Devin Haney, the undisputed lightweight champion and current 140-pound titlist.
The elder Haney offered some remarks about Broner in a recent video that downplayed the 34-year-old Cincinnati native as a viable contender.
“Ah @billhaney__ if you wanna get your son @realdevinhaney fucked up send the contract I ain’t never ran from no man in boxing why would I run from your son he can’t punch himself out a wet paper bag stop all that cap cause I’m with the shit and I want all the smoke show me the dotted line!!!!!” Broner wrote in a post that featured side-by-side BoxRec profiles of him and Haney.”
The elder Haney offered an immediate retort.
“AB you once represented the respect of boxing, the respect of the hood,” Bill Haney said in a video. “Don’t worry about it, AB. We gon’ take it over from here. It’s the Devin Haney era. And you knew that we was going to pull up. It’s business, it’s not personal. Get back to doing what you doing brother, and Devin is doing what he’s doing: representing this sh!t to the fullest.”
Animus aside, Broner and Devin Haney are headed in opposite directions in their careers.
Regarded as one of the bright lights of the sport, the 25-year-old Haney (31-0, 15 KOs), has had a banner past two years, from fully unifying the 135-pound division to dominating Regis Prograis in December en route to becoming a champion in his first fight in the 140-pound division.
Broner (35-4-1, 24 KOs), on the other hand, has suffered from inactivity, injuries, and personal issues. He reportedly had to pull out of a fight in December because of an injury. Broner, who is currently signed with promoter Don King, has fought only once in the past two years, a decision over journeyman Bill Hutchinson.
Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.