Devin Haney emerged victorious from his fight with Vasyl Lomachenko in Las Vegas last night to remain the undisputed lightweight champion.
Haney kept hold of the WBA, WBC, WBO, IBF, and The Ring titles, improving his record to 30-0 with the unanimous decision verdict over Ukrainian Lomachenko, who drops to a career record of 17-3.
It was a closely-fought fight throughout, but it seemed that Lomachenko was able to gain the advantage in the later rounds, and ended the fight arguably the stronger of the two combatants.
However, the judges didn’t see it that way, all three scoring the contest in favour of Haney. Two judges scored it 116-112, while one judge went with 115-113 to the American.
Haney vs Lomachenko scorecards
The crowd in attendance in Nevada made their feelings known after the decision, raining boos down on Haney as he gave his interview in the ring after the fight.
What has been said after Haney vs Lomachenko?
He said: “Lomachenko is a future Hall of Famer and it was a blessing. I want to thank Allah for this.
“I tip my hat off to him, he’s been my toughest opponent by far, and we put on a great fight for the fans. He’s a crafty fighter and turns it up in championship rounds, and I’ve got to tip my hat off to him.
“It’s all experience, my team will go back and reflect on this fight. We’ll go back and figure out what’s next.”
Lomachenko felt he was in control in the later rounds and was surprised at the judges’ decision.
He said: “Thank you very much. I don’t want to talk about it (the result) all the people can see what happened today.
“I think I showed I can be in the boxing, and I’m in good shape. See you next time. I can’t talk about the result right now it’s just not a comfortable moment for me right now but thank you everyone who came.”
Taking a closer look at the judges’ scorecards, and their thought process in regard to their decision, it seemed they were not fully convinced that Lomachenko was the dominant fighter in the late rounds.
All three judges scored rounds one (10-9 Haney), two (10-9 Lomachenko), four, five, nine, and 12 (10-9 Haney) and round 11 (10-9 Lomachenko) exactly the same, but were split in the other rounds.
The 116-112 overall score offered by one judge did seem a bit harsh towards Lomachenko and his team were unhappy with the decision.
Lomachenko’s manager said they plan to appeal against the decision, saying after the fight: “The biggest robbery in the daylight. Haney’s team got Christmas in the summer. We’re going to appeal this decision. Those judges, they do not understand how the boxers are working hard. I guarantee we’re not going to let that go. We want to show there has to be justice.”
Watching on with keen interest was Shakur Stevenson, who could be lined up as a future opponent for Haney.
Another option could be moving to light welterweight, where he could face the winner of the 10th of June fight between Josh Taylor and Teofimo Lopez Jr. in New York’s hallowed Madison Square Garden.
