Done deal: Haney to defend undisputed lightweight title vs. Lomachenko
Fight will headline May 20 PPV card at MGM Grand
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In a match between two of the most skilled boxers in the sport, Devin Haney will defend the undisputed lightweight championship against former pound-for-pound king and three-division champion Vasiliy Lomachenko.
The fight, long in the works, was formally announced by Top Rank on Tuesday and will take place May 20 (ESPN+ PPV, 10 p.m. ET, $59.99) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The fight will mark the first pay-per-view main event for both fighters.
“Devin Haney is the sport’s brightest young superstar, and he’s taking on a tremendous challenge against one of this generation’s best pound-for-pound fighters in Vasiliy Lomachenko. This is what boxing is all about,” Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said. “Devin and Loma are sensational boxers, and I’m sure it will be a memorable fight.”
After Lomachenko outpointed Jamaine Ortiz on Oct. 29 in New York in a fight much tougher than anyone expected, Haney, a ringside observer, joined Lomachenko in the ring during his post-fight television interview. They sized each other up and both said they wanted to face each other next.
Haney (29-0, 15 KOs), 24, of Las Vegas, will make his seventh overall title defense and second of the undisputed crown. He held the WBC title when he traveled to Melbourne, Australia in June to meet three-belt champion George Kambosos Jr. in a unification fight and won a lopsided decision to become the first undisputed 135-pound champion of the four-belt era and the first undisputed champion in the division since the late Hall of Famer Pernell Whitaker accomplished the feat by unifying the three major titles in 1990.
“Lomachenko is a good fighter and future Hall of Fame candidate,” Haney said. “I take nothing away from him or what he has done in the sport of boxing. Although he didn’t give me a shot when I challenged him in 2019, I won’t be petty.”
When Haney was Lomachenko’s WBC mandatory challenger Lomachenko opted to seek the WBC “franchise” title and instead faced Teofimo Lopez in a three-belt unification fight and lost in October 2020. Haney was upgraded from the WBC interim titleholder to full titlist. Lopez would later lose his belts to Kambosos, who would then lose them to Haney in their first fight.
“This is the fight the fans really want, and I made it happen,” Haney said. “I’ve gotten two times better since the Kambosos rematch, and believe it or not, the better my opponent is, the better I perform. I can’t wait for this fight. I know Lomachenko has an extremely high boxing IQ, and I will show the world on May 20 that I’m the best fighter on the planet. I’m ready to defend my undisputed title in devastating fashion.”
Haney got the fight with Kambosos as a replacement for Lomachenko, who had bowed out in order to remain at home in Ukraine as part of a territorial defense battalion fighting the Russian invasion.
In October, Haney returned to Melbourne and easily outpointed Kambosos again after he invoked his right to an immediate rematch. Two weeks later Lomachenko (17-2, 11 KOs), a 35-year-old southpaw and two-time Olympic gold medalist, returned from a 10-month layoff to defeat Ortiz.
Lomachenko, who was 396-1 as an amateur and has won world titles at featherweight, junior lightweight and unified at lightweight, has said since he turned pro that one of his goals was to become an undisputed champion. Now he has his chance.
“My goal is to become the undisputed lightweight champion, and Devin Haney is the man with the belts,” Lomachenko said. “I respect his boxing IQ and am excited for this challenge.”
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Lomachenko will have to at the top of his game especially as he's a guy who could easily still make featherweight if he wanted to and with his age, the number of fights he's had he's clearly not as good as he once was. Lomachenko's walk around weight is only 2lbs above the lightweight limit whilst Haney is a massive lightweight and when they stand next to each other Haney looks like a full blown welterweight. On top of that Haney's far younger, even more so in ring age with far less fights even more so with hard fights with only the crude Kambosos not being washed up when they fought and Haney usually dictates gloves, ring size and so on and it will be the same here. Personally i'm hoping Loma still has enough skill to overcome the disparities for one more fight. He's always the travelling fighter and i always appreciate the fighter who has natural obstacles to overcome which they can only do with superior skill. Thanks for the chat and enjoy the fights.
Fingers crossed Loma wins and can retire as a great. Hes fought everyone despite them being naturally far bigger men and won on sheer ability and superior skill. Hopefully those repeated top ;lvel hard fights don't effect him and he pulls of the win and can retire as a modern great.