Vasiliy Lomachenko was handed his third career defeat – and by far the most disappointing – at the hands of Devin Haney recently in Las Vegas.
Despite the result on paper, the majority of fans, fighters and analysts feel the Ukrainian did enough over the twelve rounds to win, going against the judges’ unanimous decision in the American’s favour.
Haney retained his four lightweight world titles with the victory, and left Lomachenko, at 35-years-old, wondering if he would ever get another chance at becoming undisputed again.
If it were up to many in the sport, he would get it straightaway. There have been plenty of calls for an immediate rematch given the mixed feelings on the scoring, and it’s something the Ukrainian’s team have petitioned the sanctioning body’s for.
Lomachenko – himself a three-weight world champion – isn’t optimistic, saying ‘The Dream’ understands he lost the fight and brought up a clip that went viral on social media between Haney and his corner.
In an interview ES News, he said:
“I think it’s never happening. It should, but it will never happen because I think they’re scared. No, I don’t think, I’m sure. They are scared. He understands he lost the fight. His father understands what happened.”
“You and all the people saw what he said after nine rounds in the corner.”
“A lot of people are talking about the twelfth round. I lost this round, but I didn’t need to win this round. I understood that took the fight. I won a lot of rounds. And I just kept my condition.”
Lomachenko is referring to when Haney appeared to tell his his father, ‘he knows I’m going to the left, he’s throwing the straight left now, he’s done it more than once’.
ESPN analyst, Timothy Bradley, picked up on the exchange at the time and said during commentary:
“What I heard in that corner from Haney was, ‘he’s on to me. He knows exactly what I’m doing. Lomachenko with that high boxing IQ is able to figure him out and Haney is looking for answers from his corner’.”
HANEY tells his father while in the corner, he knows my every move he knows everything I am doing DEVIN HANEY KNEW HIMSELF AFTER THE 9TH ROUND HE WAS LOSING THE FIGHT Timothy Bradley CONFIRMING WHAT HE HEARD IN THE CORNER 😆😆😂 Cinematic FULL HD VIDEO & AUDIO OF CORNER FOOTAGE pic.twitter.com/p6VDdGqwDe
— Andrew Tucker World (@drew8527) May 24, 2023
‘Loma’ later reiterated his certainty that the second fight would never happen. He said that he would spend time at home and then look to make a plan for his future in the fight game.
As for Haney, he has ridiculed his opponent’s grievances post-fight, and is set to defend against either Shakur Stevenson or Gervonta Davis or vacate his belts and move up in weight.