Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia starred in the most anticipated lightweight bout so far this year, but next Saturday, May 20, all division belts will be at stake. Devin Haney (29-0-0, 15 KOs) will defend his undisputed lightweight title against Vasyl Lomachenko (17-2-0, 11 KOs) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Teófimo López (18-1-0, 13 KOs), who took his WBA, WBO and WBC lightweight belts from the Ukrainian when he was champion, assures that Lomachenko will win the match.
“I think I see Lomachenko winning this fight. The only reason I’m saying that is because of the intelligence of this guy’s punches. He throws and why he does it. He will tire you. Even though Devin has the physical condition for it, you have to enter the exchange. You can’t just go defensive with Loma. You can’t be defensive against him. You have to attack him by any means necessary, and I don’t think Devin has that fighting dog in him.”, Teófimo López opined to DAZN Boxing Show. The American of Honduran origin has been one of the two boxers who has managed to defeat the Ukrainian, and he knows him very well in the ring.
He does not believe that the difference in size between the two fighters is important when deciding the fight. “The difference in size is not going to matter. Loma has fought bigger fighters. just think it is two-time Olympic gold medalist, had more than 400 amateur fights. He has been in professional boxing, he has been a champion in three divisions, all of this. What I want to say is that he has fought high, low… All the guys you can imagine. Although Devin has a good jab, I don’t think he’s afraid to get into a trade with him.”, assured Lopez.
Devin Haney is clear about the importance of this fight. He already said it at the time, when everyone was talking about the clash between Davis and Garcia, that “boxing fans knew it was the real fight.” he proclaimed himself WBC champion division by defeating Joseph Diaz (32-4-1, 15 KOs) by unanimous decision in December 2021, and wrested the WBA, WBO and IBF belts from George Kambosos Jr. (20-2-0, 10 KOs). ) in Melbourne in June. The Australian applied the rematch clausebut Haney prevailed again by unanimous decision to retain his title in a fight that did not attract much public attention.
Now, Haney will put his belts on the line to make a second defense against Vasyl Lomachenko. The Ukrainian came to have in his hands the WBA, WBO and WBC lightweight. In May 2018, he belted the WBA belt by defeating José Linares (47-8-0, 29 KO) by TKO in the tenth round. In December of that same year, he defended the title and won the WBO title against José Pedraza (29-5-1, 14 KOs) by unanimous decision in New York. He clinched the WBC lightweight title in 2019 by beating Luke Campbell (20-4-0, 16 KO) by unanimous decision. The second loss of his career came when he crossed paths with Teófimo López, who gave an upset in Las Vegas and won by unanimous decision.
Lomachenko assured in the documentary series Blood, Sweat & Tears that this defeat was good for him. “I lost those three belts, and I lost that fight, but I won something much bigger than those three belts. For me it was something very, very good, and today I understand it ”, reflected the Ukrainian. Losing was a good thing for him, as now he begins “to live a second life as a different man.” “Before, he was a man who wanted to conquer the world. Inside, my ego was very big. Many people didn’t see it, but after my defeat, I saw myself. I started to change. maybe it was not my time”, he explained.
