Two-time welterweight champion, Shawn Porter, has expressed a belief that Devin Haney lost fans during the build-up to his fight with Vasiliy Lomachenko.
At the weigh-in, Haney shoved Lomachenko – he was subsequently fined $4,000 for this – and consistently tried to get into his head, labelling him a dirty fighter.
Come fight night, Haney managed to get the better of the well-respected, 396-1 amateur in the eyes of the judges and scraped a controversial unanimous decision victory.
Plenty of fans have sided with the Ukrainian in the aftermath, and Haney has taken flack for his victory.
On his podcast, Porter argued that Haney lost fans before the first bell for disrespecting for one of the modern-day pound-for-pound greats with that weigh-in push.
“I think that a lot people abandoned the Haney ship, and they jumped on the Loma ship, because of their interaction at the weigh-in.
I think that he lost fans with that because it was just unnecessary and furthermore, with who you’re doing it to, it just didn’t make sense.”
Since their bout, ‘Loma’ and his team have reached out to each of the four sanctioning bodies to try and force a rematch, but as of now, it appears that Haney will not give the 35-year-old the opportunity to avenge his defeat.
Instead, it’s Shakur Stevenson is in line for a shot at the undisputed title, who is hoping to join ‘Loma’ as a three-weight champion between the 126-135lb divisions.
The American has joined a host of fellow fighters in broadcasting that he feels Lomachenko did enough to win the title in his challenge against Haney, and also claimed that the current champion is scared to fight him.
With Haney also currently debating a move up to super-lightweight it seems that Stevenson’s next fight will likely be for a world title, if not the undisputed crown.