It was nice to see that the judging in Europe last weekend was more fair than it was in the United States – a fighter went over to Ireland, fought one of women’s boxing’s bigger ever stars, and got a decision.
Women have consistently been getting the attention they deserve for the fights they’re making, and the right decision – for Chantelle Cameron, over Katie Taylor – didn’t spoil that. Cameron showed the level of fighter she has become; Taylor may be declining but she remains a high-level fighter, and to beat her in Ireland is far from easy.
Week after week in the US the events being put on are marred with bad officiating. Devin Haney and Vasyl Lomachenko both fought impressively in Las Vegas. It was an enjoyable tactical fight – a high-IQ chess match. If someone had told me that Haney would try to be aggressive for large periods I would have said being aggressive wouldn’t be in his best interests, because he’s best on the back foot, jabbing and counter-punching, but he brought the fight to Lomachenko well.
You can watch a world-class fighter lose and still be impressed by him and that’s how I felt about Haney. His tactics and execution gave him positive moments, even if I ultimately didn’t think he did enough to win. Only in that level of fight can you show what you’re capable of, and he showed things he hasn’t had to before. He showed he can do more than he was previously given credit for – it just wasn’t enough to beat that version of Lomachenko.
For Lomachenko to test himself against opponents who are clearly bigger than him is impressive by itself – if he fought opponents his own size he’d beat them all. It could get boring to watch him dominate and stop every single opponent, like he was doing at 126lbs and 130lbs.
He’s always at a size disadvantage, but watching him and Haney matching skill for skill was great. There were rounds when Lomachenko did all the work; there were rounds when Haney did all the work. There were also rounds when they both did work, but when Lomachenko did more work. If someone gave Haney those rounds then they’d been looking for an excuse to score for him – the good work he did in them was washed by Lomachenko doing even more. By the final bell I’d scored eight rounds to four in Lomachenko’s favour. It might have been possible to score those close rounds so that Haney won a total of six, but he didn’t deserve anything beyond that in the eyes of someone not allowing their judgement to be clouded by wanting him to win.
Lomachenko is one of the best ever to put on a pair of boxing gloves. Anyone who’s succeeded in the amateurs will tell you that succeeding there is often more difficult than as a professional. He dominated as an amateur and was so good that he immediately became a contender and championship-level fighter as a professional. He’s a competitor down to his core.Most fighters look for the easiest fight for the most money; Lomachenko’s always looking for the toughest fight and, if anything, as a professional he’s been underrated.
I’d actually like to see him retire. At 35 he’s moving further away from his peak with every passing day, and while the fight was competitive I don’t think the rematch was necessary – boxing doesn’t deserve people like Lomachenko. No fighter deserves a raw deal, but not even the greatest fighters in history are exempt from their fights being misjudged. Pernell Whitaker was let-down against Julio Cesar Chavez when he should have inflicted his first defeat; so was Roy Jones Jr when he was disqualified against Montell Griffin, when he was the most untouchable fighter in history. Lomachenko’s crowning moment should have come at 35 years old when winning the undisputed lightweight title and heading off into the sunset. Great fighters are robbed of the moment to punctuate their careers. They owe it to themselves to walk away and never come back.
People will forget about Lomachenko being given a raw deal like they forget about every other fighter being given a raw deal. A rematch between them would be harder for Lomachenko. I’ve been his age; every day he’s getting a little older. A lot of the success Haney and previously Teofimo Lopez had against him had a lot to do with how much bigger they are than him, and even then Haney’s body attacks were only one punch at a time. Part of the reason they were effective is because he’s so much bigger than Lomachenko, who couldn’t afford to hold his ground because of the size difference between them.
There are exciting future fights involving Haney, whether he stays at 135lbs or moves to 140lbs. He’s a big lightweight, and at 24 it’s easier to recover from tough weight cuts – however much he had to cut he recovered well, but that doesn’t mean that he should keep doing so.
As the more complete fighter he’s proven himself to be I’m even more interested to see how he would fare against Shakur Stevenson and Gervonta Davis. As the undisputed champion Haney has to be considered the division’s number one – Lomachenko is still in the top five – but Stevenson looks the best of them all.
Stylistically, fights between them would be fascinating. Though Davis has amazing power, Haney has a better chance against him than Stevenson, because Davis waits a lot and tries to get his opponents to make mistakes before pouncing – and Haney doesn’t make a lot of mistakes because he doesn’t take chances. He could outbox Davis while Davis waits; Davis would have to try and make the fight. Stevenson would beat Haney, but be troubled more by Davis than Haney. They’re all exciting fighters.
