Devin Haney was awarded a controversial unanimous decision to retain the undisputed lightweight championship at the end of a thrilling fight with Vasyl Lomachenko at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand.
In the toughest fight of his career the American produced his finest performance so far to realise his potential but was fortunate to retain his titles after a masterclass from his rival.
At 35 Lomachenko was considered the underdog not only on account of the fact he is 11 years older than the champion but because of the significant size advantage Haney held. He instead performed as he did throughout his remarkable reign as a champion at featherweight, super featherweight and then lightweight for six years from 2014, and was unfortunate when Haney was awarded scores of 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113.
It was starting slowly against Teofimo Lopez in 2020 that contributed to Lomachenko suffering so unexpected a defeat. He took no such risks against Haney, as he demonstrated by impressively ending the first round by taking the centre of the ring, backing Haney into a corner and letting his hands go having already landed a combination when they traded.
Haney found his range more convincingly in the second and when he landed he did so with increased authority. Lomachenko’s consistent movement regardless took the Ukrainian into positions from where he could let his hands go, as he again did with Haney again towards the ropes. In the third he often beat Haney to the jab, and then extravagantly moved out of the champion’s range.
It took until the fourth when Haney’s ability to read him started to improve and when he therefore for the first time won a round clearly. He followed doing so by jabbing with success to the body during the fifth when his discipline – considered the key to victory, pre-fight – was influential and when they fought at a pace closer to that he would favour. They also had exchanges in which they traded in a way that seemed likelier to trouble Lomachenko, and potentially drain him in the later rounds.
The sixth, more than any other round, captured the difficulty involved in scoring so closely contested a fight for the three ringside judges. Haney largely occupied the centre of the ring and again landed his jab with authority, but he also took a straight right and a straight left, and was at risk of being outworked.
Lomachenko continued to maintain the higher work-rate and often to land the more accurate and eye-catching punches. In the eighth Haney swung and missed with a right hand that briefly made him appear desperate, and Lomachenko was then punished for landing a flurry of punches when taking a right to the body, and retaliated again when snapping Haney’s head back with a right hand.
In a similarly competitive ninth Haney was hurt with another straight left but his footwork had periods of negating Lomachenko’s elaborate angles and movements ahead of Lomachenko impressively growing in strength.
By maintaining his high punch output and often accuracy against the champion he should have been rewarded by pulling ahead on the scorecards throughout the final three rounds. Instead one judge, Dave Moretti, inexplicably scored rounds nine, 10 and 12 in Haney’s favour, contributing to the widest scorecard of the three and objections to the three scores from those ringside, among the press seats, and the wider crowd.
“I don’t want to talk about [the decision],” Lomachenko said. “All the people saw what happened
“I think I showed that I can still be in boxing. I’m in good shape now. And see you next time.
“I can’t talk about this right now. It’s not a comfortable moment for me. Thank you to everyone who came.
“Before, I thought he would be better. He’s a tough fighter. He’s a good fighter. But he’s not a pound-for-pound fighter.
“Right now I want to go back home and support my country and support my Ukrainian orthodox church.”
Haney, whose father, trainer and manager Bill was struck with a bottle thrown from the crowd as they made their way back to their dressing room, said: “Lomachenko is a future hall of famer. It was a blessing. He was my toughest opponent by far. He is very crafty, and we put on a great fight for the fans.
“He’s a crafty fighter. He turns it up in the championship rounds. I just have to take my hat off to him. He’s a great fighter.
“This is all experience. Me and my team are going to go back to the house, watch the fight and reflect on it. I’ve been at 135lbs for a long, long time. This is my 30th fight. I’ve been here at 135lbs since I was 16 years old. We’re going to go back to the lab and figure out what’s next.
“It’s always been tough for me to make weight. I accomplished everything at 135lbs. I beat a future hall of famer. This is my 8th title defence. So we just gotta see what’s next.”
