Devin Haney remained undefeated and undisputed with a narrow points win Vasily Lomachenko Saturday.
The 24-year-old American entered Las Vegas with an undefeated 29-0 record and improved that scoreboard, trailing Lomachenko 116-112, 115-113, 115-113 on the jury scorecards, and retained their lightweight titles in the process. .
The only adjective that mattered to Lomachenko, the smaller, older fighter at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, was “unquestionably” – a status that had been overlooked during the Ukrainian’s storied career.
Lomachenko, 35, is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and holds the combined gold world titles in featherweight, super featherweight and lightweight. It’s never been controversial, though, and Haney narrowly beat “Loma” on Saturday, May 20, to dismiss the veteran’s eulogy.
A highly competitive fight involved multiple rounds that were almost too close to the call, but Haney preferred a body-effective right hook in the first half of the match.
Meanwhile, Lomachenko was unable to muster the same strength, but his blow also pierced through Haney’s defenses, burning “The Dream” intermittently with short, straight punches.
Lomachenko seemed to have secured the clearest rounds – 10th and 11th – but failed to get the final square where all three referees scored in Haney’s favor, preventing the majority from drawing.
Lomachenko (left) fell short, but many observers think he beat Haney
(AP)
For Haney, this was arguably the second consecutive successful defense of gold. The American beat George Kambosos Jr in his home country of Australia in June to reunite the belts and repeated the result once again in Melbourne in October.
Meanwhile, Saturday’s main event marked a third professional defeat for Lomachenko, who most recently suffered a loss in 2020 when he was surprisingly outpaced by Teofimo Lopez.
Lomachenko responded with three wins in a row; The third came in December after the 35-year-old actor spent most of 2022 in Ukraine helping his country defend against Russian invasion.
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