Promoter Eddie Hearn says he doesn’t see Vasily Lomachenko winning many rounds against undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney this Saturday night in their headliner on ESPN PPV in Las Vegas.
Hearn thinks the size, length, and careful manner in which Haney (29-0, 15 KOs) fights will make it difficult for Lomachenko to land his punches on Saturday night on May 20th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
The combination of the 400+ fights, shoulder surgery, inactivity, and the lack of size puts Lomachenko in a tough spot to try and beat the younger, bigger & fresher Haney.
If Lomachenko possessed huge power & speed like Gervonta Davis or Ryan Garcia, he could make up for the deficiencies that he has in this contest against Haney, but unfortunately, he’s barren in those areas.
“I think he wins comfortably. When we were working with Devin, we tried to make that fight two years ago. It was a much tougher fight then than it is now,” said Eddie Hearn to Fight Hub TV about the Devin Haney vs. Vasily Lomachenko fight.
“I think Devin has proven himself as a fantastic talent. So has Lomachenko, but when you’ve had 400 amateur fights, when you’ve been so inactive when you had the big shoulder surgery, I don’t see him winning many rounds against Devin Haney. I may be wrong.
“Devin is very smart, very long. He won’t be trying to mix it up and go to war with Lomachenko. He’ll try to pick his spots and will be in & out with his speed, and I expect him to win the fight comfortably.
“He’s an unbelievable fighter. Still one of the top fighters in the division,” Hearn said about Lomachenko. “It’s just that he’s a little older, more war-torn, more injuries, and not much momentum.
“If you look at his last couple of fights. He had [Teofimo] Lopez. He lost against Teofimo, and then the [shoulder] surgery, and then came back against Nakatani and dealt with him. These are quite low-level guys.
“I don’t think it’s a mismatch. I think Lomachenko is a great pound-for-pound fighter. I just think Devin’s momentum at the moment, and his speed and his skill, will allow him to deal with him quite comfortably.
“It’s always tough,” said Hearn when asked about the weight cut for Haney. “Devin is a meticulous professional, and sometimes when we had him in fights, and they weren’t that big, you saw the difference where he had a little bit less discipline, even though he’s super disciplined than he was for Linares or JoJo Diaz when we had him, and he goes into the other fights.
“He’ll make sure he makes this weight well, but it is a struggle, and he’s been at 135 a lot longer than I expected him to be. His value is he’s the undisputed champion. If he moves to 140, he’s beltless.
“The one thing about Devin is that as good as he is, he’s not yet broken through to the Tank level and Ryan Garcia level in terms of his popularity. But he’s the undisputed lightweight world champion and he’s a tremendous talent,” said Hearn.
