Devin Haney’s immediate future has been thrown into uncertainty after Keyshawn Davis pulled out of their mandated contest on Friday.

The pair had been ordered to collide for Haney’s WBO world title, with Davis having been named as the sanctioning body’s mandatory challenger at 147lbs.

Multiple reports then suggested that the 27-year-old was offered $3m by Top Rank, his promoter, only for ‘The Businessman’ to reject what would have been a career-high payday.

Subsequently, their bout went to a purse bit hearing, where Top Rank trumped Teofimo Lopez’s Takeover Promotions with a sum of $8,550,000.

This therefore gave Bob Arum’s outfit the promotional rights and, as per the usual 75/25 split in favour of the defending champion, Davis would have been entitled to a share of $2,137,500.

Since Thursday’s auction, though, Davis has excluded himself from the fight and left Haney without an obvious opponent for his first welterweight title defence.

Taking to social mediaWBO president Gustavo Olivieri explained that his organisation must now provide their champion with a solution.

“The WBO hereby confirms receipt of written notice from counsel on behalf of Keyshawn Davis advising that he will NOT accept the 25% purse split adjudicated pursuant to the official WBO purse bid proceedings and, accordingly, will NOT participate in the WBO welterweight mandatory championship contest against Devin Haney.

“In light of the foregoing, the WBO Championship Committee and Ratings Committee will convene to proceed in accordance with the WBO world championship rules and regulations. The applicable ruling will be rendered and published in due course.”

Re: WBO Welterweight Participant Keyshawn Davis

The World Boxing Organization (WBO) hereby confirms receipt of written notice from counsel on behalf of Mr. Keyshawn Davis advising that he will NOT accept the 25% purse split adjudicated pursuant to the official WBO purse bid…

— Gustavo Olivieri, Esq. (@OlivieriLaw) July 31, 2026

At this stage, it remains to be seen whether Haney will be immediately ordered to face a new mandatory challenger or, given the situation, have the opportunity to make a voluntary defence.

Either way, the 27-year-old has not fought since dethroning Brian Norman Jr in November and is surely eager to return to action.

Terence Crawford has offered Lamont Roach some words of wisdom ahead of his vacant WBC world title clash with William Zepeda.

The sanctioning body’s two leading lightweight contenders will collide this evening, headlining a Golden Boy card in Las Vegas.

Zepeda has therefore been presented with a second stab at the WBC 135lb strap, despite coming off a unanimous decision defeat to Shakur Stevenson in July 2025.

Even against Stevenson, though, the Mexican fought at a relentless pace and proved that he represents a hard night’s work for any fighter.

Roach, on the other hand, has been accused of lacking a degree of urgency, or rather believing he is comfortably ahead on the judges’ scorecards when, really, the fight remains in the balance.

This appeared to be the case in his last outing, against Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz, whose sheer aggression and work rate saw him come away with a 12-round draw in December.

Prior to that, Roach boxed to a far more contentious draw against Gervonta Daviswho should have suffered a knockdown when he touched the canvas in round nine.

The fact remains, however, that Roach must elevate his punch output and intensity if he is to emerge victorious against Zepeda.

Speaking with FightHypeformer three-division undisputed champion Crawford outlined this as an area of improvement for the 30-year-old.

“It’s going to be a good fight. If Roach don’t pick up his punch count, it’s going to be a bad one [for him].”

While seemingly needing to increase his volume, Roach does have the footwork and fluidity to cause Zepeda serious problems.

Chris Eubank Jr has not fought since his underwhelming rematch with Conor Benn, but the 36-year-old is now being targeted by a fierce knockout artist, who is willing to travel to London for the opportunity to face him.

Eubank scored an iconic win over Benn last April but when they rematched seven months later, he felt the full effects of a brutal weight cut, narrowly avoiding a stoppage defeat as he survived until the final bell on unsteady legs only to lose a wide unanimous decision.

Since then, the Hove-born contender has been advised to move up in weight and return to the super-middleweight scene, but he has also been linked to a catchweight clash with Michael Zerafa in Australia – a bout which would take place at 164lbs.

New York’s Edgar Berlanga has now thrown his hat into the ring though, after revealing on ‘The Last Stand’ podcast about his intentions to face Eubank before the end of the year.

“I would love to step into the ring to end the year with Chris Eubank Jr. I feel like that fight is going to be a big fight in London.

“I told Keith [Connolly]I said that I would rather not do it out here in America. I would rather go to London, where he is from [U.K.]you know what I am saying? We can make a big, big fight happen. He is on the radar.”

Berlanga’s most high profile fight came back in 2024 when he challenged Canelo Alvarez for his unified super-middleweight crown, suffering a unanimous decision defeat, one of two losses in his career after also coming up short against Hamzah Sheeraz.

He has since signed with Zuffa Boxing and in his debut with the company on Sunday he knocked Steven Butler out after seven rounds, recovering from a second-round knockdown to earn the 19th stoppage victory of his career.

In an interview with The RingBerlanga has now doubled down on his call-out of Eubank, hoping he can convince the Briton to swerve the Zerafa fight in favour of a clash on home soil.

“I’m looking forward to getting a real big fight with Chris Eubank. Let’s do it in London. It’s going to be big.”

Eubank maintains that he is currently a free agentbut it is unclear whether he is still contracted to Boxxer, with promoter Ben Shalom appearing to believe that their deal has not expired.