By Charles Brun: Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn says WBC interim lightweight champion Devin Haney will probably be facing 36-year-old Petr Petrov next month on November 9 on the undercard of KSI vs. Logan Paul on DAZN at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
Petrov = showcase fight for Haney
That’s not a great fight, but this is obviously a fight that is more of a showcase match to allow Haney to look spectacular against a capable guy. The fight is a horrible mismatch, but it’s unlikely that Hearn could find a good opponent to step in with Haney on 4 weeks’ notice.
Petrov (41-6-2, 22 KOs) has twice challenged for world titles, and come up short both times in defeats against Marcos Maidana and Terry Flanagan. Maidana destroyed Petrov in a 4th round knockout in September 2011. Former WBO lightweight champion Flanagan beat Petrov by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision in April 2017.
Haney defeated Zaur Abdullaev (11-1, 7 KOs) last month on September 13 to win the vacant interim World Boxing Council lightweight title at Madison Square Garden in New York. With the victory, Haney is beating on the door of the WBC lightweight title holder Vasiliy Lomachenko. Hearn wants the WBC to force Lomachenko to defend against Haney, but that’s not looking too likely.
Lomachenko is expected to fight the winner of the December 14th fight between IBF lightweight champion Richard Commey and Teofimo Lopez in the first quarter of 2020. What’s unknown right now is if Lomachenko will try and squeeze in a voluntary defense of his WBA/WBC/WBO lightweight titles in December. If so, Hearn wants the WBC to force Lomachenko to face Haney instead.
Petrov has 3-fight winning streak
Last year, former IBF light welterweight champion Ivan Baranchyk stopped Petrov in the 8th round in March 2018. Since that fight, Petrov has won his last three fights against Hermin Isava, Ruben Tamayo and Dedrick Bell.
Petrov is currently not ranked in the top 15 by any of the 4 sanctioning bodies at 135, which isn’t surprising given his recent defeats.
David Avanesyan vs. Josh Kelly in the works for December
Hearn also says that he’s looking to make a fight between EBU welterweight champion David Avanesyan and 2016 Olympian Josh Kelly. He wants to put that fight together in the main event on a different card later this year. In early 2020, Hearn plans on having IBF super featherweight champion Tevin Farmer defend against WBA Gold champ Joseph ‘Jo Jo’ Diaz in January 2020 in Miami, Florida.
Kelly (9-0-1, 6 KOs) didn’t look so hot in fighting to a contested 10 round draw against Ray Robinson (24-3-2, 12 KOs) in his last fight on June 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York. That was a wake-up call for the 25-year-old Kelly that he needs to make major changes to his game if he wants his professional career to amount to something. Kelly was cut over his left eye in round 7, and his right eye in the 10th. Both cuts were caused by punches. Through most of the fight, Kelly fought with his back against the ropes looking to counter the 33-year-old Robinson.