Devin Haney vs. Zaur Abdullaev official weigh-in results & photos

By Boxing News - 09/12/2019 - Comments

By Chris Williams. A drained looking Devin Haney (22-0, 14 KOs) weighed in successfully at 134.6 pounds on Thursday for his fight against Zaur Abdullaev (11-0, 7 KOs) this Friday on DAZN at Madison Square Garden in New York. Abdullaev, 25, weighed in at 134.6 lbs.

Haney and Abdullaev will be fighting in a WBC lightweight title eliminator. They’re also fighting for the interim WBC 135-lb title. The winner of the fight will be the mandatory for WBC champion Vasyl Lomachenko. However, his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank Boxing is saying that Lomachenko won’t fight for the remainder of 2019, and that he’ll be waiting to face the Richard Commey vs. Teofimo Lopez fight in early 2020.

Arum says that if Lomachenko does fight once more this year, it’ll be against an overseas opponent. In other words, Haney isn’t under consideration for Loma’s next fight or his fight after that.

Devin Haney not worried about being frozen out by Lomachenko

Haney says he doesn’t care. Lomachenko is 31, and he’s 20. He’s getting older, and his options will be dwindling as he ages. If Lomachenko’s promoters at Top Rank aren’t going to put him against the best like Haney, then he’ll never be a star. Arum compares Lomachenko to Muhammad Ali, but he’s failed to become a star like the late legend. By the time Ali was 31, he had been a star for 11 years, and already beaten the following fighters:

  • Sonny Liston
  • Archie Moore
  • George Chuvalo
  • Floyd Patterson
  • Ernie Terrell
  • Cleveland Williams
  • Zora Folley
  • Ken Norton
  • Joe Bugner
  • Bob Foster

The way that Lomachenko has been matched, he’s been unable to become a superstar like Muhmmad Ali. It’s forlorn for Arum to compare Lomachenko to Ali when he fails to math him against talented fighters like Devin Haney.

“I don’t really believe all that, ‘I can look into his soul’, and all that they talk about. Tomorrow, I’ll be ready. It’s going to be a good fight,” said Haney after his weigh-in for his fight this Friday night against Abdullaev. “Like I said, he don’t make or break me. If I don’t fight Lomachenko. If the fight never happens, who cares,” said Haney. “That’s his loss. He’s 30-years-old. I’m 20. I’ve got a long future ahead of me. I’m willing to fight anybody,” said Haney.

Haney wants to make the biggest fights happen

“I want to make the big fights happen,” said Haney. “If these fights don’t happen, it’s not because of me. I’m willing to fight anybody. As of right now, I’m focused on Abdullaev. I know Abdullaev is going to bring best out of me. I’m going to give a sample of what I’m going to do to Lomachenko. 135 is still easy to make. I’ll be as long as it takes to get a world title,” said Haney.

YouTube video

Other weights on Friday’s card

Heavyweight Michael Hunter (17-1, 12 KOs) weighed in at 221.4 pounds for his fight against Sergy Kuzmin (15-0, 11 KOs). Kuzmin weighed in at a hefty 258.4 lbs. The winner of this fight stays in the hunt

Heather Hardy 125.8 vs. Amanda Serrano 125.8
Raymond Ford 124.6 vs. Rafael Castillo 122
Daniyar Yeleussinov 147.4 vs. Reshard Hicks 147
Murodjon Akhmadaliev 123.6 vs. Wilner Soto 122.8
Larry Fryers 143 vs. Wesley Ferrer 141.8
Mahammadrasul Majidov 227 vs. Ed Fountain 240.5