Vasyl Lomackenko or Devin Haney, Devin Haney or Vasyl Lomachenko? Flip a coin, heads or tails, and totally rule out the possibility that it lands on edge so there is no winner. The bout between them will be this Saturday the 20th at the 16,800-seat MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.
Haney, 24-year-old American, nicknamed “The Dream” and undefeated in 29 professional appearances, with 15 knockouts and no draws, undisputed lightweight champion, will put his WBA, WBC, WBO, IBF and The Ring belts on the line against the experienced 35-year-old Ukrainian, former featherweight champion, super featherweight and lightweight with a professional record of 17-2-0, 11KO, and considered the best amateur fighter in history, twice amateur world champion in 2009-2011, double Olympic king in Beijing-2008 and London-2012 and incredible winner in 396 of 397 fights in the unpaid field.
Impossible to overlook the very striking fact that the winner of this fight is presumed to be a candidate to face Gervonta Davis, recent victim of the until then undefeated Ryan Garcia. From that Davis vs. Loma matchup, one of them will emerge as the true best 135-pounder in the world.
A tough forecast
As we said, both in the title of this article and at the beginning of the text, Saturday’s bout is one of those with many well-founded expectations, and for that reason it represents a real reserved prognosis for analysts, in medical jargon.
This point of view supports that this is a fight that will put in the ring two of the best fighters of the moment, endowed with notorious and proven virtues. On one side there is the 35 year old European’s experience and boxing wisdom, who seems to keep his remarkable physical faculties almost intact, and who is distinguished by his great technique, his quick hands, the accuracy of his punches, the speed of his feet and the power of his punches; in short, an almost perfect boxing machine.
In the opposite corner we have Haney’s dynamic and full youth 9 years younger, a refined fencing, speed and skill, among his most outstanding qualities and already accustomed to face without fear the most demanding commitments, as demonstrated in his last two outings when he jumped over obstacles that looked insurmountable; in theory, by agreeing to travel twice to Melbourne, Australia, to fight the local idol George Kambosos, whom he defeated in June to keep the 4 belts and repeated the dose last October, both times by unquestionable decisions.
Hi-Tech, on the other hand, has not fought since October of last year when he dominated Jamaine Ortiz at Madison Square Garden. Before that, he defeated Japanese Masayoshi Nakatama by KOT9 in October 2O21 and on October 11-12, he defeated Ghanaian Richard Tommey by DU. His only losses have been to the now deputy of Sonora, Mexico, Orlando “Siri” Salido in his second pro fight in March 2014 by DD and to Honduran-American Teofimo Lopez by DU in October 2020, in a lightweight unification fight.
Back to Haney and his skills in the ring, let’s add that he has the great an incredible self-confidence, without being arrogant, qualities that he brings to the ring with the certainty that he can beat whoever comes in front of him.
We will not abound in extra details, except to emphasize that this challenge between these great warriors should satisfy the expectations of the world’s fans, split 50/50. I am slightly inclined, with certain and understandable apprehensions, towards a victory on points in favor of Vasyl Anatolivich Lomachenko, Hi Tech, my humble opinion being based on respect for the Ukrainian’s lustrous record. Even though, I am aware that Haney is capable of overturning any opinion against him. It should be one of those classic heads or tails fights, which should consume all twelve rounds and will have seven other bouts as a backdrop in a program set to begin at 10:00 p.m. ET.
