After 12 very aggressive rounds, Devin Haney retained his undisputed light-weight championship over a really recreation Vasiliy Lomachenko. The battle was billed as “Checkmate,” and it lived as much as the title. From the sound of the opening bell, followers have been handled to a tactical however action-packed battle. Haney was seeking to battle from behind his jab all night time. He was the larger fighter and needed to make use of his dimension to regulate the battle. He was jabbing properly but additionally punching the physique properly all night time lengthy. Physique punching in boxing isn’t eye-catching, however if you happen to checked out Loma’s midsection and rib areas, you possibly can see the injury being executed. Lomachenko’s offense was simpler when he was in a position to implement it. The battle was backwards and forwards, with every fighter having moments because the championship rounds approached.
In Spherical 10, Lomachenko regarded like a classic model of himself, opening up his offense and dominating the spherical. Lomachenko should have sensed blood within the water as a result of he got here out on hearth within the eleventh spherical as properly, buzzing Haney and banking one other spherical on this shut battle. He didn’t lose any sense of urgency within the twelfth spherical, preserving the strain on and beating Haney to the punch persistently to comb the championship rounds. On the finish of twelve rounds, I had Vasiliy Lomachenko successful 115-113.
The judges, nonetheless, noticed it in another way. The rating playing cards learn (115-113, 115-113, 116-112) for Devin Haney. The choice was booed resoundingly by the Las Vegas crowd.
Personally, I really feel the battle was scored properly and mirrored how shut the battle was. Nonetheless, I used to be not a fan of Dave Moretti’s 116-112 card, contemplating he scored the tenth spherical for Devin Haney when that was far and away a Lomachenko spherical. This was a really shut battle, and I utterly disagree with the notion of a theft. As Stephen “Breadman” Edwards says, “a battle is 12 individually scored rounds, not a 36-minute battle”.
With the win, Devin Haney strikes to (30-0, 15 KOs, and Vasily Lomachenko drops to 17-3, 11 KOs, snapping his 3-fight successful streak.