Devin Haney beat Vasiliy Lomachenko to retain his undisputed lightweight titles recently – now two fellow American boxing stars have advised him on what to do next.
The Las Vegas fight lived up to its billing of a chess match, one that many felt the Ukrainian challenger came out on top of. Despite that, Haney was awarded the unanimous decision.
Whilst branding it a robbery is too far in the eyes of most fans, there’s a general feeling of unfinished business and calls for a second fight to settle it.
Speaking to ES News, Wilder believes that’s what Haney should do next.
“You know, when it’s like that, you have to run it back. When there’s a lot of controversy you have to run it back. I’ve heard both sides, different people’s opinions and stuff like that.”
Wilder isn’t the only US fighter to feel a rematch is the right choice for Haney.
Two weight world champion and hall of famer, Andre Ward, told Sporting News it was the best fight for the 24-year-old to take next, and cast back to his own career as an example.
Ward beat Sergey Kovalev by unanimous decision in 2016. He touched the canvas in the fight, and both the referee and judges were criticised in the aftermath. They would fight again a year later to a Ward stoppage win.
“It’s tough for Devin because of the weight situation, but obviously I’ve showed you what I would do. I personally would run it back. I would run it back just because I’m a competitor.”
“It’s not just the public saying I lost, but personally for me I wanted to create some separation. And I think Devin Haney should do that. I think he should rematch Lomachenko, because from a legacy and money play, I don’t think there’s a bigger situation right now.”
The Shakur Stevenson fight is big, the Gervonta Davis fight is back, but people want to see him rematch Loma. That’s the fight that everybody’s focused on. I think he can get his money up and put on a better performance.”
Lomachenko’s team have campaigned for all sanctioning bodies to put their man as number one challenger as they prepare an official appeal on the result.
Haney’s response has been to insult the three-weight world champion. It’s thought that he’ll proceed to a fight with either Shakur Stevenson or Gervonta Davis, but calls for this rematch don’t seem to be going anywhere.