By Sam Volz: Bill Haney confronted Vasily Lomachenko during Thursday’s press conference, telling him that he’s been “running” from Devin Haney for the last four years, and now they finally got him for their fight on May 20th on ESPN+ PPV at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
As the undisputed lightweight champion with all the belts, Haney (29-0, 15 KOs) has the upper hand on Lomachenko (17-2, 11 KOs), and he’s not going to let him forget it.
Devin is bitter beyond belief about Loma shutting him out, ignoring him, and not allowing him to fight him when he was on top.
Lomachenko didn’t show interest in fighting Haney when he was needy and repeatedly asked Loma for a chance to fight.
Now that the tables are turned, and Haney is the one with the straps, he’s chosen to take the high road and give Lomachenko a chance to fight for the undisputed lightweight championship, knowing that it’s been a dream of his to capture the four 135-lb belts.
Haney will make Lomachenko uncomfortable
“They’ve been doing a lot of running, a lot of avoiding this thing. W have a lot of respect. We know he’s a Hall of Fame fighter, and that gives Devin the credit and validation as a pound-for-pound fighter,” said Bill Haney during today’s kickoff press conference for Devin Haney’s fight against Vasily Lomachenko on May 20th.
“We intend on doing everything to make him uncomfortable on the night. Everything that he does, everything that he’s comfortable doing, he won’t do on May 20th. Thank you guys for finally taking the fight, and we look forward to it,” said Bill.
Hopefully, the part where Bill talks about Devin making Lomachenko “uncomfortable” doesn’t involve him frequent clinching like what fans witnessed in Devin’s two fights against George Kambosos Jr last year. Those fights were difficult to watch because of all the clinching Haney did.
“We are prepared for him. We’ve been prepared for four years,” Bill said about Lomachenko. “We’ve been trying to make this fight for four years. I think Devin reiterated to him that four years ago the fight should have happened. Now things are going to be worse for him.
“We’re ready to go. We were ready to go four years ago. For Devin to be 24 years old, and not just the top lightweight in the division but a businessman. This is our last fight with Bob Arum. Hopefully, we can do business after,” said Bill.
Haney wants to prove himself against Loma
“We took on a deal, we went down under for two fights, and we came back, and Devin said we had to go to New York to give Lomachenko the opportunity because we know this is his dream,” said Bill.
“A Hall of Fame promoter like Bob Arum gave us our opportunity to come, and on May 20th, you’re going to see blood, sweat & tears. Lomachenko is going to see something that he’s never seen in the ring before.
“Bob, is Lomachenko one of the best fighters you’ve seen since Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray still?” said Bill Haney.
“Absolutely,” said Bob Arum. “I knew that when he came out of the amateurs. Nobody that I know of had the amateur credentials that Vasily Lomachenko had, nobody.
“He was able to take those skills and go into the professional ranks with great success,” said Arum.
“When you made that comment that’s when we decided that Lomachenko was the fight we really wanted,” said Bill. “You’ve done a wonderful job of promoting Vasily, and when you made that statement as a Hall of Fame promoter, there was no other fight that we wanted as a team. So thank you for making that happen.”
“No, thank you,” said Arum. “I know we looked around, you and I for the best possible place to do the fight, and it ended up for various reasons that it was Las Vegas at the MGM Grand. The home of so many great fights over the years.
“Tickets go on sale tomorrow. We expect a sellout, and we expect it to be very quickly. So everybody should tell all their followers to get their tickets because there will be a tremendous demand for seats for this fight,” said Arum.
“Egis, you ran all around the world. You ran from us,” said Bill Haney.
“I disagree that he’s not on the pound-for-pound list. I think he’s everything that he’s been and more. He’s more mature now and has something to fight for. A man that is going to sacrifice his career and go defend his country. That says a lot.
“For us to give him an opportunity at the belts, which is a dream that he had, it means the world. For Devin to be 24, to own a company, and to go down to Australia not once but twice to take a deal that Lomachenko openly said that he was going to take, it says a lot about Devin.
“This is not just a fight. It’s a fight for independence.
