By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
American undisputed lightweight king Devin Haney is ready to defend his WBC, WBA, IBF, IBO, and Ring Magazine titles against boxing phenom Vasiliy Lomachenko this May 21, 2023, in Las Vegas.
Seeking to extend his undefeated boxing record to 30-straight professional wins, the technical and crafty slugger will be facing a different beast this Sunday, against the former lightweight king from Ukraine.
Haney is coming off back-to-back unanimous decision wins against former champion George Kambosos Jr. and announced that he is unfazed facing the slippery and intelligent Lomachenko.
“I’m going to go in there and impose my will on Loma and show the world how great Devin Haney really is. How versatile, how strong, how young, and how experienced I am in that ring,” said Haney.
With the majority of the predictions swinging Haney’s way to win the bout, the American’s camp said they can’t be complacent especially against a battle-tested veteran who once held his belts previous years ago.
However, Lomachenko’s reign as the undisputed lightweight king ended when Teofimo Lopez shocked the boxing world last October 18, 2020.
It was a punching clinic for Lopez in the first half of the bout and bullied Lomachenko with his long reach. Ukraine’s pride had an answer in the last five rounds after stepping on the gas pedal but it wasn’t enough to put him ahead in the scorecards.
Lomachenko’s loss at the hands of Lopez was only his second in his entire professional career and has been dominant ever since after winning his last three bouts against Jamaine Ortiz, Richard Commey, and Masayoshi Nakatani.
For Haney, their game plan is simple. Keep it busy against the slippery Lomachenko and set up jabs to fend off his flurries of right straight punches.
Lomachenko on the other hand said that may the best man wins this Sunday, and this is one of the biggest fights of his career to return to the ranks of the boxing greats.
“I have a lot of experience in boxing, and anything can happen during a fight. I just think about what I need to do during a fight, and my goal is to become the undisputed champion of the world,” Lomachenko said.
