The Ring IV super-card was only minutes old when Brian “The Assassin” Norman Jr. and Devin “The Dream” Haney reignited Thursday’s hotel-lobby melee with another shove at their New York press conference. Slated for November 22 in Riyadh, Norman’s WBO welterweight title defence is now the most combustible of the four-belt attractions headed by David Benavidez-Anthony Yarde.
Haney leaned on résumé, reminding reporters he has “lived at this level for seven, eight years” while chasing a third divisional crown. Norman countered with recency and violence: three knockouts in three 2025 outings, capped by a brutal five-round erasure of Jin Sasaki that fronts every KO-of-the-Year list.
Devin Haney: Say it to my face: Watch
Verbal jabs quickly hardened into insults. Haney dismissed Norman’s hit-list as “names nobody’s seen,” warning that muscles and punch power “won’t work at world-class pace.” The 24-year-old champion brushed it off. “People doubt me? Good,” Norman said. “They’ve doubted me my whole life. I shove back harder.”
Their clash shares Saudi billing with Abdullah Mason-Sam Noakes for the vacant WBO lightweight strap and a potential Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez-Fernando Martinez junior-bantam unifier - yet it’s the welterweight friction that’s stolen early headlines. Another shove, one more round of trash-talk, and the message is clear: action will speak louder than words under Riyadh’s lights.
Image Credit: The Ring