Undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney (29-0, 15 KOs) and #1 WBC Vasily Lomachenko (17-2, 11 KOs) are wrapping up a deal for May 20 in Las Vegas on ESPN pay-per-view. The 16,800-seat MGM Grand is being mentioned as the likely venue for the Haney vs. Lomachenko fight.
Placing the Haney-Lomachenko fight on PPV won’t make boxing fans happy because many of them don’t view Haney as deserving of being on pay-per-view because his best career win is arguably George Kambosos Jr, a fighter that would have never won a world title if not for Teofimo Lopez not being at his best.
Haney, 24, will be taking a big step up in class from the opposition that his management has been matching him against during his eight-year professional career, and it’ll be interesting to see how he does against the more experienced and accomplished former three-division world champion Lomachenko.
Devin has been trying to fight Lomachenko for several years and finally has the opportunity to face him. This is the perfect time for Haney to fight Lomachenko because he didn’t look great in his last performance against fringe contender Jamaine Ortiz last October in New York.
Lomachenko will need a great game plan to deal with Haney’s height, reach, weight, and powerful jab. The size difference between the two on fight night could be significant. Haney looks like a bonafide light welterweight at this point in his career, whereas Lomachenko has the size of an undersized, super featherweight.
To land shots, Lomachenko will need to get past Haney’s long jab and then deal with the frequent holding he does. If anyone can figure out Haney’s style, it’s Lomachenko, but whether he can outwork him is another matter. Lomachenko doesn’t have a high work rate and could be out-hit by the 24-year-old Haney.
Lomachenko has tended to start slowly in his recent fights against Jamaine Ortiz, Richard Commey, and Masayoshi Nakatani. If he does that against Haney, he’ll fall hopelessly behind and need a knockout to win.
That’s probably not going to happen, though, because Loma isn’t a massive puncher at 135, and Haney will likely be weighing in the mid-150s on fight night.
The winner of Haney vs. Lomachenko will surely fight the Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis vs. Ryan Garcia fight later this year in a massive pay-per-view event.
