“Why isn’t Devin ‘Debo’ Haney the Ring champion as well as the WBO champion, being that we done put in all the hard work? That’s the first question. And the second question is, who’s stopping and what’s stopping me from going out of here, taking it out right now and giving it to the champion that we believe and the people believe is the real Ring champion?” said Bill during an interview on Mr. Verzace’s podcast.

Devin is currently ranked No. 1 by The Ring at 147 pounds, but the championship has remained vacant since Jaron Ennis left the division. Beating Norman gave him the WBO belt, not an automatic claim to The Ring’s championship. Under the publication’s policy, he must face another highly ranked welterweight, with Jack Catterall identified during the interview as one possible opponent.

Bill also said Devin would face anyone eligible for the belt. He rejected the idea that it should be awarded through a 144-pound catchweight fight with Shakur Stevenson.

The larger purpose became clearer when the discussion moved to Devin’s future opponents.

“Are you going to encourage Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn to fight Devin Haney? Or are we going to just hand him the Ring belt in unprecedented fashion?”

Later, Bill referred to the people “paying the bills,” saying they can keep fights moving or bring everything to a halt. That sounded like recognition that rankings and sanctioning rules alone will not produce the purses Devin wants.

Winning The Ring belt would give Turki another reason to feature Devin on his cards. More importantly, publicly treating the Saudi-owned championship as boxing’s highest prize allows Bill to support Turki’s project while requesting access to its money and opponents.

Ryan remains the main target. That campaign gives Bill a way to flatter the person most capable of financing the rematch without directly asking him to rescue it.