Haney Takes Out Lominchenko In A Close Fight
By Joshua Garcia
Almost four years ago to the day, Devin Haney begged for a chance to fight the, at that time pound for pound champion in Vasiliy Lomachenko. On the Las Vegas strip this past Saturday, Haney stepped between the ropes as an undefeated and undisputed champion, but more importantly, he left the ring with the same hardware, as the boxing world witnessed one of it’s more intellectual fight nights in recent memory.
Devin Haney and Vasiliy Lomachenko met in a 12-round battle that felt more like surgeons deciding which way to medically repair a patient in a complex procedure. A showcase of tacticians of the sweet science, Haney and Lomachenko broke the internet with a controversial finish to their championship chess-like fight.
Boxing think tanks including any notion of Lomachenko losing speed or skill should immediately be drug tested. The tough Ukrainian who most recently spent time participating in a war for his country, looked every bit of a contender as he gave the young champion Haney fits with his punching angels and the ability to exploit his lack of comfort in facing a southpaw.
For all of the good Lomachenko achieved throughout the 12-round back and forth, Haney continued to land precise shots to the body of his smaller opponent at a high percentage. The combinations of Lomachenko looked aesthetically pleasing and got the crowd going, but the majority of the combos would hit Haney’s effective defense and do little damage. This of course directly led to the absurd calls for robbery or an incorrect decision.
Although, compubox numbers can be deceiving and not tell the entire story of a fight, in this case with two such precise fighters, the numbers are an even more accurate measuring stick of success. Neither Haney nor Lomachenko are known as power punchers, that’s not their game, and like it or not in their first matchup, Haney performed better at a particular set of skills even Liam Neeson would be impressed with.
A peruse of the final numbers reflected Devin Haney and Vasiliy Lomachenko almost dead even on the jab, while Haney decidedly separated himself with power punches and overall accuracy and effectiveness of punches. Haney landed near the same amount of total punches in the fight on his opponent, but it took him 159 less attempts to do so. Long story short, judges love accuracy.
Something else judges love is damage and post fight Lomachenko could be seen with a visibly swollen eye while Haney had little bruising. This stance is evidenced by the numbers, in which Haney inflicted 41% to Lomachenko’s mere 30% in power punches landed. Again, when there is a close fight that is difficult to score, judges will lean on those numbers when forced to make a difficult decision.
Post-fight reaction has had some boxing fans up in arms over the unanimous decision win for Devin Haney in which two of the three judges had the fight decided by one round. The numbers and eye test support the fighter who entered unanimous and undefeated (Haney), to keep his status, as his opponent failed to send him to the canvas, knock him out, or exhibit he should take his belts, even if his opponent’s name is Vasiliy Lomachenko.
Devin Haney remains the undisputed champion and Vasiliy Lomachenko can choose to enter with him again and change that, but Shakur Stevenson and Gervonta Davis will be lurking and would jump at the chance to hop in the ring with the 30-0 Haney.
