After fruitless negotiations with Rolando Romero, Liam Paro and Keyshawn Davis, among others, Haney is now eyeing an encounter against Jack Catterall on October 3, a date he originally saved for Davis before "The Businessman" pulled out of an ordered fight that resulted in an $8.55 million purse bid.

Catterall's manager, Sam Jones, shed light on the potential fight on social media.

"I wouldn’t say advanced [negotiations], but we’ve accepted the fight and the date proposed. We are easy to deal with. We're not greedy or delusional. Let’s get the fight on and get the contracts signed," Jones wrote.

"What I hope isn’t the case is that Jack is being used as a decoy. Paro is scared of taking the fight for less money than he’s wanting. All I can tell you is we’ve accepted the fight and the date and location. So if the fight doesn’t happen, it’s not on Jack."

Haney (33-0, 15 KOs) picked up the 147-pound title by beating Brian Norman Jr. via unanimous decision in November. Once Davis passed on the fight on July 31, Haney immediately moved on to negotiate with Paro, who won the IBF title by beating Lewis Crocker on June 24.

Catterall (33-2, 14 KOs) beat Shakhram Giyasov last time out, in May, to become the mandatory challenger for WBA titleholder Romero Rolly. However, Romero maneuvered his way to a matchup against Teofimo Lopez Jr. on August 22.

Haney is ranked No. 1 by The Ring in the welterweight division; Catterall is No. 3. Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan.