Devin Haney and Vasiliy Lomachenko have been anticipated to satisfy on Could 20, and now Mike Coppinger stories at ESPN.com that the deal is being “finalized” for that date in Las Vegas, in what might be an ESPN pay-per-view essential occasion.
ESPN and Prime Rank have usually stayed out of the boxing pay-per-view market lately, however that is frankly a combat that’s going to be costly to placed on, and making an attempt to make the cash again on pay-per-view is probably going the one means this combat occurs in any respect. It’s just too costly to be a traditional ESPN essential occasion, even when Haney vs Lomachenko doesn’t form as much as be a blockbuster vendor.
Haney (29-0, 15 KO) totally unified the light-weight division final yr when he beat George Kambosos Jr in Australia, and returned for a contractually obligated rematch 4 months later, beating Kambosos clearly once more.
He’d endured barks of being an “electronic mail champion” for some time, which actually dates again to Lomachenko (17-2, 11 KO) opting to not face obligatory challenger Haney.
That scenario arose in 2019 out of an advanced and ridiculous ordeal that noticed Lomachenko — who held the WBA and WBO light-weight titles — getting the inexperienced mild to face Luke Campbell with the vacant WBC belt additionally at stake. This was in opposition to the conventional WBC pointers, however the best individuals needed it to occur.
When Lomachenko received, interim champion Haney turned his obligatory, and as an alternative Lomachenko selected to just accept a bogus “franchise title” from the WBC — a designation that has by no means meant something apart from a star fighter didn’t need to combat a compulsory challenger, and the sanctioning physique weren’t in any rush to make him, whereas additionally nonetheless, not directly, recognizing him.
The “franchise” titles have been by no means even meant to be defended, however the WBC modified their tune on that in 2020, when each different sanctioning physique was about to get a chunk of the Lomachenko vs Teofimo Lopez combat and the WBC have been on account of be omitted of the pot. This led to Lopez — after which Kambosos — claiming to be undisputed champion, when the case was completely disputed.
However all of that acquired settled final yr, and we’re now at some extent the place the 24-year-old Haney and 35-year-old Lomachenko are each underneath the Prime Rank banner, want a combat, and every little thing simply is smart for them to satisfy subsequent.
It’ll even be an opportunity for the celebrated Lomachenko to do principally the one factor he’s by no means performed, which is go undisputed. He’s received titles at 126, 130, and 135, in addition to being an newbie legend, and his Corridor of Fame case is just about set in stone as is, nevertheless it’s one other hill to attempt to climb.
And for Haney, he faces one other prime contender in what would be the most consideration any combat of his profession has ever gotten, an opportunity so as to add a terrific fighter’s title to his resume.
