Bill Haney Says Shakur Twice Ducked Devin — Now Eyes Paro Unification

Bill Haney has drawn a line under the Devin Haney–Shakur Stevenson saga, and he's doing it with a blunt verdict: Stevenson had two chances to make the fight and passed on both. Speaking to Ring Magazine, the father and manager of the unbeaten WBO welterweight champion said opportunities existed at 135 and again at 147, with the WBO title on the line, and that Stevenson didn't take either after months of back-and-forth.

The headline concession, per Bill, was weight. Haney's camp agreed to come down to 145 lbs — below the welterweight limit — to get it done, and claims they got nothing in return but a request for a rehydration clause and dragged-out talks. Devin Haney, now 33-0 with 15 knockouts, is the reigning WBO champ at 147 off a unanimous-decision win over Brian Norman Jr. Bill insists the concessions were about giving fans what they want, not leverage.

The Breakdown

Bill pinned part of the collapse on promoter J. Prince, referencing a threat he described as two double barrels pointed at him — then wryly wondered aloud whether they were blanks or fakes. He pushed back on the idea he'd been unfairly targeting Stevenson or Keyshawn Davis during negotiations, framing the breakdown as something that started on the other side of the table.

The 'Deebo' persona got an airing too. Bill's pitch is that Devin will pull up anywhere, anytime on anyone wearing the target — and that the Haney camp's list was disregarded, which is why the fight went nowhere. A refreshed list is coming, he says, and it won't be purely domestic.

Next Target: Paro

Top of that list is Liam Paro, the IBF welterweight titlist, with Bill floating a unification. Paro sits at 28-1 (16 KO) and is coming off a unanimous-decision win over Lewis Crocker, so a Haney-Paro pairing would put two belts at 147 on the line — a genuinely clean unification rather than a mandatory shuffle.

Whether Stevenson responds is anyone's guess, but the practical takeaway is simple: the Haney side has moved on, and the welterweight picture now runs through Paro, not Shakur. For a champion who's built his brand on volume and activity, pivoting to a live unification over a stalled grudge match is the pragmatic play.