Zaur Abdullaev and his team can certainly appreciate Devin Haney’s confidence ahead of their upcoming lightweight interim title fight.

Future plans already being discussed by Haney’s promoter, however, is another story.

The pair of unbeaten lightweights will collide September 13 at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York City. The DAZN-streamed headliner was originally designed to create a mandatory challenger for unified lightweight titlist and pound-for-pound entrant Vasiliy Lomachenko. It has since been upgraded to an interim title fight, although obtaining such sanctioning isn’t the only piece of business that Haney’s promoter, Eddie Hearn has been up to lately.

A win by Las Vegas’ Haney (22-0, 14KOs) on Friday could land the rising lightweight on the undercard of a recently announced Nov. 9 DAZN telecast, headlined by a rematch between YouTube.com celebrities Logan Paul and KSI (real name Olajide William "JJ" Olatunji) at Staples Center in Los Angeles, Calif. The targeted demographic could easily relate to Haney, who will only celebrate his 21st birthday in late November.

What’s way too early to celebrate, however, is an assumed win in what is arguably his toughest assignment to date in Russia’s Abduallev (11-0, 7KOs).

“I think that it is too early for Eddie to make (future) plans for Haney,” German Titov, Abdullaev’s promoter told krikya360.com upon hearing news of such plans. “We are confident that this bout against Zaur will be tough for Haney, and there is a high probability in our opinion that Zaur will win.”

Abdullaev fights outside of his native Russia and on DAZN for the first time in his still young pro career, which began in March 2017. Haney makes his second straight DAZN appearance since signing a promotional deal with Hearn this past March.

The winner will claim the World Boxing Council (WBC) interim lightweight title, with Lomachenko (14-1, 10KOs) collecting the full version to add to his now three-belt lightweight collection following a 12-round win over England’s Luke Campbell on Aug. 31 in London.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox