“I got mixed feelings about it,” Harrison said to Fighthype. “I just don’t understand. The reason we got into the sport is to fight. And then again, it comes to a point where it’s about everything other than fighting.”

Boxing regularly loses attractive fights because the financial demands don’t work for one side. Harrison compared that problem with the UFC, where the leading fighters are more frequently matched against each other.

“The reason boxing gets compared to UFC [is] because everybody in UFC fights each other. The best fight the best,” Harrison said.

There is another side to the Keyshawn situation.

Davis has Olympic pedigree and the talent to compete with the better fighters around his weight. From his perspective, $2.14 million may not have reflected what he believed a dangerous fight against Haney was worth.

Ryan Garcia has received massive paydays since his 2023 fight against Gervonta Davis, while Devin Haney climbed into a different financial bracket after years of activity and increasingly important fights. Keyshawn hasn’t built the same commercial foundation.

He had opportunities to take greater risks at lightweight, where a stronger run against dangerous contenders would have increased his bargaining power. Negotiations for a fight with Richardson Hitchins also failed to produce a deal, costing Davis another chance to test himself against a quality opponent and strengthen his negotiating position.

Haney took a different route. He fought frequently during the early stages of his career, collected titles and traveled to Australia twice to face George Kambosos Jr. He later fought Vasiliy Lomachenko, Regis Prograis and Garcia.

Bill Haney has also played a major role in keeping Devin’s name in circulation. His willingness to sell fights, challenge opponents publicly and create interest around his son’s career helped turn Haney into a much bigger attraction.

Ryan didn’t need to follow the same blueprint. His enormous social media following and ability to attract attention outside boxing gave him commercial leverage that most fighters don’t possess.

Keyshawn has neither advantage. He hasn’t built Ryan’s enormous audience, and his professional career hasn’t moved at the pace Haney’s did.

That doesn’t mean Davis should have accepted whatever was offered to fight Haney. Fighters have short careers, and taking a difficult fight for less than they believe they’re worth carries obvious risk.

The problem is getting the money without first creating the market for it.

Harrison believes fighters have that order backward.

“If the best was available, I wanted to fight the best,” Harrison said. “I think now it’s more about money. But for me, you can’t get money without glory. You go for the glory, and the money will come.”

The time to build that kind of leverage was much earlier in his career.