Bob Arum was taken aback like most everyone else regarding the news that Devin Haney’s father will not be in his corner for the biggest fight of his life.

Haney, the WBC lightweight titlist, whom Arum’s Top Rank Inc promotes, will challenge WBO, WBA, and IBF champion George Kambosos in a full 135-pound unification bout June 4 (US) at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia.

The Oakland-born, Las Vegas-based Haney made the trip to the Land Down Under recently but he was not accompanied by arguably the most important member of his team, his father and manager Bill Haney.

It turned out that the elder Haney was not allowed to board the plane to go to Australia because of a drug conviction for which he served time in the early 1990s. Australian visa laws make it difficult for those with a criminal record who have been behind bars for 12 months to be granted entrance into the country. The elder Haney suggested recently in an interview that his case is still pending.

The 90-year-old Arum admitted the news came as a shock but stressed that he and his colleagues are “working” to get Haney’s father in the clear.

“That was really a surprise,” Arum told FightHype.com. “We didn’t know that Bill had a record that went back 30 years ago. He’s an outstanding guy now and so forth. But apparently that sets off alarm bells with the Australians. So we weren’t able to get him a visa for Australia but we’re still working on it.”

Haney, 23, will have more than just the potential absence of his father to deal with. It has been reported that longtime assistant trainer Ben Davison of the United Kingdom not be able to make the trip either due to visa issues of his own. Instead, Haney will have Yoel Judah, the father of two-division titlist Zab Judah, manning his corner on fight night.

Arum, in any case, sounded confident that Judah would do a competent job with Haney.

“Joel’s a good boxing guy,” Arum said. “We know him from when he trained his son Zab. So whatever [happens] Devin will be in good hands.”

Haney (27-0, 15KOs) is attempting to become the youngest undisputed champion in the four-belt era by defeating Kambosos (20-0, 10 KOs). In order for Haney to land a shot at nabbing all four lightweight belts, he was required to sign a multi-bout deal with Top Rank and agree to an immediate rematch with Kambosos on Australian soil in the event that Haney defeats the Aussie on June 4.