A formal press release was issued today announcing the December 19 welterweight title unification between Devin Haney and Liam Paro at San Francisco’s Chase Center, and in anticipation of the meeting with a co-feature of Brian Norman vs Abel RamosHaney shared his excitement for what he expects to be another successful outing to snag some more hardware.

“My resume speaks for itself,” Haney said. “I’ve never been afraid to go into a champion’s backyard and put my record on the line. I went to Australia, took George Kambosos’ belts, and became undisputed lightweight champion of the world. Now I’m bringing another Australian world champion, Liam Paro, into my backyard. This time, I plan to take his belt and become a unified welterweight world champion right here at home.
“Oakland is where my story started, and the Bay Area has always been part of who I am. The Valkyries just brought a championship to Chase Center, and on December 19, I plan to keep that championship energy going.

“I made history in Australia. Now it’s time to make history at home.”

Paro, however hopes to upset the odds, knowing he’ll be coming into this fight as a decided underdog.

“Three years ago, I was on the undercard at Chase Center the night Devin fought Regis Prograis,” Paro said. “I said back then that Haney versus Paro rolls off the tongue. Now it’s here. Champion versus champion, two belts on the line, in his backyard.

“I’ve never taken the easy road. I went to Puerto Rico and took the title off Matias in front of his own people. Devin’s a great fighter and I respect that. But I’ve been the underdog plenty of times and I’ve made history before. December 19, I’m coming to unify the division and make more history.”

With the WBO and IBF welterweight world titles on the line, one fight will be heading into the new year halfway to undisputed.

Tyson Fury sees little point in Deontay Wilder stepping inside a ring again, an inconvenient stance given Wilder’s spot on his upcoming December 11 card. Labeling the former champion “shot to bits” severely undercuts Jai Opetaia’s heavyweight entrance, turning a marquee pairing into an exercise in past glory.

Wilder meets the undefeated cruiserweight ruler at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, supporting the Netflix headliner between Fury and Anthony Joshua. Opetaia carries a spotless 31-0 record into the division. Wilder enters at 45-4-1. While the American’s presence guarantees instant marquee value, Fury openly questions if any real substance remains.

“Silly for Deontay’s part,” Fury remarked to FightHype regarding the bout. “He shouldn’t be nowhere near a ring. It’s a dying shame that this man has to continue to fight when he’s shot to bits.”

Fury argued Wilder should have walked away after their brutal 2021 trilogy finale. He referenced Wilder’s narrow split decision over Derek Chisora in April to illustrate the decline, pointing out that Chisora walked through shots that once ended nights instantly.

This goes well beyond standard fight banter or favoring the younger fighter. Fury insists any ring appearance by Wilder is a mistake, no matter the rival. Sharing thirty rounds across three savage encounters gives his assessment real credibility, even with his typical theatrical flair taken into account.

That leaves promoters with an awkward narrative. Wilder’s box office appeal relies entirely on the sudden violence of his equalizer. If the card’s headline attraction claims that thunder is gone, fans are paying for nostalgia rather than prime danger.

Opetaia faces a distinct reputational limit because of it. A dominant performance adds a legendary heavyweight scalp to his ledger, yet it will not convince skeptics he can challenge the division elite. Fury provided the counterargument months in advance: the opponent should have stepped away long ago.

The move up remains hazardous for the Australian. Stepping up in weight brings obvious physical disadvantages, and assuming Wilder is completely toothless would be reckless. Opetaia must rely on sharp footwork, making the veteran chase shadows instead of giving him a stationary target.

Diminished skills can still pack enough punch to alter someone venturing north of 200 pounds. Even so, this version barely resembles the wrecking ball who defended the WBC belt ten times.

Fury tore through the promotional sheen around this contest. Opetaia gets his crack at the famous Bronze Bomber name, but the card’s top star insists the man in Cardiff belongs in the crowd, not under the lights.

What’s interesting is how Fury is eager to declare Wilder finished, yet plenty of fans see his main event with Joshua as two faded names cashing in before the wheels fall off completely.

If Joshua catches him and puts him away early, the reaction will be merciless. The narrative will immediately flip to Fury being a shell of the giant who outboxed Wladimir Klitschko or battered Wilder in their rematch.

When a fighter spends years taking heavy punishment, blowing up between camps, and showing diminished punch resistance, the drop-off rarely happens gradually. It comes all at once.

Ever since the Francis Ngannou knockdown, Fury’s aura of invincibility has vanished. He was hurt badly and dropped by Oleksandr Usyk, and even in his recent bouts against big punchers like Arslanbek Makhmudov, he showed far less mobility and far more vulnerability to clean shots. His legs do not bail him out of trouble the way they used to.

Joshua rebuilt his career against lower-tier opposition, Kristian Prenga, and a crossover fight with Jake Paul, but the memory of being taken apart by Daniel Dubois, Oleksandr Usyk, and flattened by Andy Ruiz Jr. never truly disappeared. He remains cautious, mechanical, and prone to freezing.

If Joshua lands the clean right hand and flattens him, Fury will not have any room to complain about the commentary that follows. You cannot publicly brand your former rival a walking corpse on your undercard, then expect sympathy when the boxing public decides Father Time caught up to you on the very same night.

Related Videos

▶00:13

Anthony Joshua loved that Agit Kabayel KO 😮‍💨Anthony Joshua loved that Agit Kabayel KO 😮‍💨

DAZN Boxing · 4 hours ago

▶00:55

Breaking: Deontay Wilder vs Jai Opetaia Announced as Co Main for Fury vs AJ!Breaking: Deontay Wilder vs Jai Opetaia Announced as Co Main for Fury vs AJ!

Fight Hub · 1 day ago

Shakur Stevenson has proven himself to be one of the top fighters on the planet after becoming a four-weight world champion earlier this year, and now the Newark southpaw has been called out for a unification showdown in the super-lightweight division.

Stevenson got the better of Teofimo Lopez back in January as he claimed the WBO super-lightweight title to become boxing’s third-youngest four-division world champion of all time and establish himself as one of the sport’s best pound-for-pound talents.

Since that triumph, Stevenson has remained inactive, much to the frustration of him and his fans, with his recent release from Zuffa Boxing providing hope that he could return to action in the near future.

Now, in an interview with Ring Magazinereigning WBC super-lightweight world champion Dalton Smith has shared his plans to fight at Hillsborough Stadium – home of his beloved Sheffield Wednesday Football Club – believing a unification with Stevenson to be the ideal fight for the venue.

“For me, the number one goal is [to fight at] Hillsborough [Stadium] and of course, you would have to have a big name there, a unification, but there is many options and that is for my team to decide. So, we need to sit down as a team and decide what those options are. I would just love to do Hillsborough.”

“Of course, there are no two ways about it, Shakur is the number one fighter in the division. He is obviously a four-weight world champion and, of course, he is one hell of a fighter, but I am in a position now where I can cement my own legacy and push on to be that number one.

“If I keep winning and keep bringing eyes to the sport, then I think that it is a fight that can be built and something big can come from it.”

The WBO have recently ordered negotiations between Stevenson and mandatory challenger Raymond Muratalla, which could see Smith and Stevenson potentially aligned for a summer scrap in the near-40,000 capacity Sheffield venue.