Amari Jones set the stage for Devin Haney.
Jones stopped Quilisto ‘Kilo the Kid’ Madera on December 9, at the Chase Center, before Devin Haney defeated Regis Prograis.
After his successful performance, the 21-year-old Jones entered the locker room to be greeted by a gleeful Haney. Jones, signed to Devin Haney Promotions, has also trained side-by-side with Haney for years now. ProBox TV caught up with Jones at the gym his family owns in Pittsburg, California — The Lion’s Den Boxing Gym.
“Before the fight I tried my best to dap up Dev, and give my good spirits and stuff like that. When I saw Devin when I first walked in the locker room, me and Dev was talking about how my fight went and everything. I was like ‘I told you I was going to stop him’.”
“After he fought was what [Haney referenced in his post-fight press conference] as well. After he fought, I told Dev ‘I am proud of you.’ Because you know I am a guy that sees the work from the sun up to the sun down with Dev. He works extremely hard, and to win in the fashion he did [against Regis Prograis] to prove all the doubters wrong. Hearing people say he has no power, or everybody saying he gets hit by southpaws too much, and for him to go in there and pitch a shutout like that. It was just unbelievable.”
“I know the harder I work, the faster [the success] will come,” Jones told ProBox TV. “I know that it is more likely to come [with my work ethic]. I am not out here [expletive], because what is the likelyhood of [sucess happening].”
Haney himself made mention of Jones in his post-fight interview. Haney has often referenced Jones as ‘my twin’ or twin, a nickname that seems to be used amongst the team, but not for the media or fight promotion. Haney praised Jones in the post-fight press conference at the Chase Center on December 9th.
“I told Amari, he just told me in the locker room when I was getting dressed after the fight, he said ‘I am proud of you,’” said Haney after the fight to the media recall the locker room conversation. “I said nah I am proud of you. You motivated me when you went in there and knocked him out, and you did everything that you said you were going to do. That motivated me. That gave me that extra push. That just explains our relationship me and Amari Jones. We push each other. That is my twin for real. Day in and day out we push each other in everything that we do. It is a testament to his work ethic, no matter what time it is - it could be three or four in the morning, I tell him ‘hey Amari, let’s run’, he gets up every time, never complains.”
