Just when you thought you were done hearing about Devin Haney vs. Vasiliy Lomachenko, one more chapter in the book of rivalry is revealed.
This time, Haney, who beat Lomachenko via disputed unanimous decision on May 20 to retain his unified lightweight champ status, is blasting Lomachenko over his team’s appeal to all four boxing sanctioning bodies.
“This past in Las Vegas, Vasiliy Lomachenko challenged undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney in Las Vegas,” Lomachenko’s manager Egis Klimas wrote. “The crowd at the MGM and the boxing world reacted to condemn what it believes to be an unfair and unjust decision that denied Loma his rightful victory and his lifetime goal of being undisputed champion of the world.
“As Team Loma prepares an appeal of the decision, and in light of the highly controversial outcome of the bout, on behalf of Vasiliy Lomachenko, I ask that the [IBF/WBA/WBC/WBO] keep Loma as the #1 and recognize him as the mandatory contender for the title in the lightweight division.
“Loma was denied his victory in the ring on Saturday, and he deserves the opportunity to remain in place as #1 to get another chance at realizing his goals as soon as possible.”
Needless to say, the 24-year-old Haney was not too pleased with this very public lament from Team Lomachenko, after nearly a week of widespread criticism regarding the judging of the bout.
“This guy is a f**king sore loser,” Haney wrote via Twitter. “Get this privilege[d] sore loser out of boxing, he makes excuses as he goes! Take your [loss] like a man & stop crying. It was set up for you to win for the 3rd time in your career & you failed! Tell the commission give me my $400k back for that push!”
Aside from the push back to Lomachenko, it was also an interesting reveal that Haney had been fined $400K for violently pushing the 35-year-old Lomachenko at the ceremonial weigh-in the day prior to the fight.
But, getting back to the actual Haney-Lomachenko bout, controversy has raged over the scoring of the contest. And, while most feel the fight was close, most also seem to feel that the wrong man was declared the winner.
Even promoter Bob Arum, whose Top Rank Promotions handled the event, was caught on a hot mic at the post-fight press conference telling Lomachenko and his manager that Lomachenko “won that fight easy.”
And Haney also countered publicly via social media on that occasion as well.
“Bob old a** was sleep all fight,” Haney wrote. “I took a look at him between rounds.”
Will all this controversy and the talk about the controversy leave a stain on Haney’s biggest career win to date? Probably not. Boxing fans are fickle, but they’re also famously forgetful. Their impassioned debates over the scoring of the fight are already dying down and their attention has been diverted elsewhere. In a few months, this will all likely blow over and be just a distant, if unpleasant, memory in most minds.
Whatever the case, though, don’t expect a rematch. To double back and revisit a Lomachenko bout makes no sense for Haney right now and his father/trainer Bill Haney has given a firm indication that his son won’t be going back to the Ukraine native with an offer of a return bout.
“I don’t see where it would’ve been that close to be a rematch,” the elder Haney recently said, regarding the clearly close lightweight battle. “This was a big fight, but it wasn’t close.”
