Devin Haney moved one step closer into becoming a true contender at 135 pounds after his latest win on Showtime.
In the main event of the first ShoBox: The Next Generation card of 2019, Haney scored a unanimous decision win over Xolisani Ndongeni. Haney won with scores of 100-89, 100-89 and 99-90 and claimed the WBO Intercontinental lightweight title.
The fight started off well for Haney thanks to a flurry of punches that hurt Ndongeni in the final seconds of the first round. Haney was able to land another series of punches halfway in the second round, dropping Ndongeni to the canvas. Ndongeni was able to get back up and even land several strong shots to the body, but Ndongeni did not possess the sufficient power needed to even hurt Haney, let alone knock him down.
Haney has now reached the point into his career where he could potentially challenge for a world title sometime in the future. Haney entered the fight already ranked in the top 10 of the WBA, WBC and IBF lightweight rankings and will likely be ranked higher in those three separate rankings plus could potentially be ranked by the WBO after this win.
According to ShoStats, Haney landed 237 of his 590 total punches (40 percent) while Ndongeni only connected on 123 of his 619 punches (20 percent). In the power punching department, Haney outlanded Ndongeni 152-79.
In the co-main event, undefeated featherweight prospect Ruben Villa cruised to an easy unanimous decision victory (80-72, 80-72, 80-72) over Ruben Cervera. The opening bout saw Frank Sanchez Faure knock out Willie Jake Jr. with just one second remaining in the second round.