Former world champion, Tim Bradley, believes Vasily Lomachenko’s best chance of winning on Saturday against Devin Haney is if he takes the fight to the inside.
Haney vs. Lomachenko will be the 12-round main event on Saturday, May 20th, on ESPN pay-per-view at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
The real question is, can Haney handle the weight cut? Will he feel strong, or will he be drained and fight poorly?
If Lomachenko (17-2, 11 KOs) remains outside, he’ll get picked apart by Haney’s long jab and right-hand shots (29-0, 15 KOs).
Undisputed lightweight champion Haney is confident coming into the fight, with wins against George Kambosos Jr., Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz, and Jorge Linares.
Haney didn’t look great until his fights with Kambosos, having been hit a lot and hurt in his fights against Diaz and Linares. Facing the flawed Kambosos made Haney look better than he was.
“I see the fight going a couple of different ways,” said Tim Bradley to ESPN+ about Haney’s title defense against Vasily Lomachenko. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Devin Haney is the aggressor in this fight.”
When Lomachenko disengages, he’s sometimes out of position. If you keep him having to reset, Haney has a 5 1/2″ reach advantage.
Lomachenko likes to operate at midrange, and if he can get past the lead hand of Haney and work his way to the inside, he’s got a dang good chance of pulling off this upset.
“Fantastic match-up. You have the highly experienced and well-accomplished Lomachenko, and he’s facing the young, hungry, talented undisputed champion in Devin Haney. It doesn’t get any better than this,” said Bradley.
“There are so many storylines for me going into this fight. I see the younger fighter in Devin Haney, who has the momentum,” said Andre Ward.
Haney is confident and wants to dominate Loma and beat him up, but he respects him. This is one of those exciting fights that you have to tune in for to watch unfold in real-time.
“The truth is, Vasily Lomachenko, who is widely accepted as the best pound-for-pound fighter, has been demystified,” said Mark Kriegel. “First, it was the loss to Teofimo, and then it was a more subtle defeat against Jermaine Ortiz.”
“This is the defining moment for both of these fighters,” said Ward.
The undisputed lightweight championship of the world between Devin Haney and Vasily Lomachenko is the most important fight this year in boxing. The card starts at 6:00 p.m. Eastern and will be on ESPN PPV.