Devin Haney should fight Lomachenko now says Tim Bradley

By Boxing News - 07/16/2022 - Comments

By Sean Jones: Tim Bradley says Devin Haney should take the fight with Vasyl Lomachenko now because this is the ideal time to defeat him by taking advantage of his inactivity.

Haney, 23, plans on fighting in October against possibly the little “Emperor” George Kambosos Jr in a rematch in Australia.

Lomachenko looked outstanding in his last two fights against Richard Commey and Masayoshi Nakatani in 2021. If Haney faces that version of Lomachenko, he will likely lose badly and get knocked out.

The only obstacle getting in the way of a Haney vs. Lomachenko fight in October is Kambosos with his rematch clause.

If Kambosos insists on fighting Haney next, the only option to clear him out of the way would be to pay him a step aside. Given Kambosos’ previous interests in fighting Lomachenko, he should be open to the idea of stepping aside, but he might ask for too much money to make it worthwhile.

“It’s a great fight. Loma has been out for some time now, but I can just tell you this. Those types of fighters, like Loma, they stay in shape year-round,” said Tim Bradley to Fight Hub TV when asked about his thoughts on Devin Haney possibly defending against Vasyl Lomachenko in October.

“You can’t depend on Loma being weak or anyone to be strong or Haney either. But I think it’s the right time now, coming off this long layoff of Loma.

The former undisputed 135-lb champion Kambosos (20-1, 10 KOs) has a rematch clause in his contract with Haney from their fight on June 5th, which he lost by a 12-round unanimous decision.

If Haney is going to beat him, it’ll be right now because he doesn’t want Loma to get a tune-up fight at all. He doesn’t want him to get acclimated. So, it’s the perfect time. It’s a great fight.

“Like I said, I think Haney can get him [Lomachenko]. Haney can control range & distance. I think there are some things he can tighten up on, but I think the better the competition, the better Haney we’ll  see,” said Bradley.

Haney is ambivalent about taking the rematch with the former lightweight champion Kambosos next because he wants to take the best possible fight.

Fans don’t want to see Haney fight Kambosos a second time because their fight was too one-sided for there to be any interest in a second one.

The organizers of an event between them must know that the Australian fans won’t turn out in what same numbers as the first fight because they know Kambosos will lose again.

What the organizers won’t want is to book a huge 50,000+ seat stadium in Australia for the Haney vs. Kambosos II rematch, and then only 5,000 fans turn up to watch the likely mismatcch.

If Sean Jones was Australian, the last thing he’d want to waste money watching is a second Kambosos vs. Haney fight.

The former three-division world champion Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs) hasn’t fought in 2022 due to him defending his country from the Russian invasion.

Bradley feels that with Lomachenko being ring-rusty, undisputed lightweight champion Haney (28-0, 15 KOs) can’t afford to let him take a tune-up fight to get acclimated. Tim likes the idea of Haney gaining an advantage over Lomachenko to get him while he’s less than 100%.

“Tank is my #1 guy. I would say Tank, Lomachenko, and then you say Haney, but everybody else is right there. Tank, Loma, Haney,” said Shawn Porter when asked to rank his top three 135-lb fighters.

“That would be tight,” Porter said when asked if he thinks Haney will fight Lomachenko in October.

“If a guy like Ryan [Garcia] loses to Lomachenko or Tank Davis if Ryan isn’t injured, and Ryan says, ‘Hey,  everything is still clicking the way I wanted to click,’ put him in the ring with Haney. Even though he lost to Tank, he could beat Haney.

“Every fight is great. We would be robbing ourselves if we said this fight wasn’t worth something if one of the guys lose,” said Bradley.

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