Devin Haney Is a Champion Boxer for the Influencer Era

“They sh*ted on me now it’s gone cost them!” the caption reads, and we see the lightweight boxing champion of the world with a stack of $100 bills stretching from his left shoulder to his temple. He was in a jewelry store in New York City’s Diamond District, wearing five bracelets, three rings, two watches and a diamond-encrusted DHP pendant. “DHP” stands for Devin Haney Promotions; at 19, the fighter became the youngest licensed promoter in US history. He’s 24 now, and 29-0, and on May 20 he’ll defend his title against Vasiliy Lomachenko at the MGM Grand’s 16,800-seat Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The kid they call “The Dream” will earn $4 million plus a share of the pay-per-view take.

Across Interstate 15 from the MGM Grand on a dusty street called Business Lane sits Top Rank Boxing Gym, where Haney is training for the fight. Frank Stea, the gym’s manager, takes me into a back room and offers me an energy drink. Stea, who’s worked closely with Haney for a little more than a year, raves about his work ethic. But in boxing, that’s only half the game. The sport’s most transcendent showmen—Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Floyd Mayweather Jr.—were champs whose salesmanship made them far bigger draws. “You can’t really teach charisma and personality. Either you have it or you don’t,” Stea says. “Devin has that. He’s flashy. He’s good. And he’s one of the types that a lot of people want to pay to see lose.”