But the vastly experienced Jorge Linares expects to give those rockstar credentials a thorough examination on Saturday night when the pair lock horns in Las Vegas (live on DAZN).
It is now five years since the 35-year-old Linares (47-5 with 29 KOs) held the belt which now adorns the waist of Haney (25-0 with 15 inside distance). The Venezuelan, a three-weight world champion in days gone by, has lost two of his last five - stoppage defeats at the hands of Vasiliy Lomachenko and Pablo Cesar Cano.
But he is still confident he has what it takes to make Haney dig deep on Saturday night, and sees it as an opportunity to revive his own career at elite level.
Linares explained: “It’s a big fight and a new challenge for me. I have a lot of respect for Devin. He’s a young guy, a world champion, but on Saturday the respect goes, and I am ready for an amazing fight, and I hope he’s ready too.
“He knows who he is fighting - a four-time world champion. I have a lot of experience and that’s the most important thing in this fight to win the fight. He doesn’t have that. He has talent, he has youth and hunger, and the belt.
“A fight with me is a different level. I can show so many styles, I’m naturally fast and strong, I don’t have a lot of KOs, but he knows I can punch. I think he will run all night, but I will be waiting for him, I will follow him. If he wants to fight inside, I am ready for him.
“He’s going to have big problems on Saturday night, he knows I can do everything, and he knows I have to timing to put him down.”
Linares has already seen Haney’s ability up close and person when they sparred in the past.
“I know his style, I trained with him a long time ago in Vegas and we did some sparring,” he said.
“He was a baby then! But he’s a champion now and I hope he’s ready for a tough fight.”
Haney vs Linares tops a stacked Vegas card which sees Britain’s Chantelle Cameron (13-0 7 KOs) defend her WBC super-lightweight title against Melissa Hernandez (23-7-3 7 KOs).
Jason Quigley (18-1 14 KOs) and Shane Mosley Jr (17-3 10 KOs) battle for the WBO NABO middleweight title and Martin J. Ward (24-1-2 11 KOs) faces Azinga Fuzile (14-1 8 KOs) in a final eliminator for the IBF super-featherweight title.
