Haney needs impressive performance against Lomachenko to earn Gervonta Davis fight

Image: Haney needs impressive performance against Lomachenko to earn Gervonta Davis fight
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 30: Devin Haney (L) and Vasiliy Lomachenko (R) pose during the press conference prior to their May 20 undisputed lightweight championship fight at The Ray Dolby Ballroom on March 30, 2023 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jeff Lewis/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)
By Boxing News - 04/25/2023 - Comments

By Allan Fox: Devin Haney is going to need either a significant performance or high pay-per-view numbers against Vasily Lomachenko on May 20th for him to make himself a viable option for Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis to fight next.

Tank Davis’ trainer Calvin Ford said when about a fight with Haney that it must “make sense,” That might not be the case if his battle with Lomachenko (17-2, 11 KOs) brings in less than 200,000 PPV buys on ESPN PPV on May 20th. Right now, it’s a long shot that Haney vs. Lomachenko does that many pay-per-views.

There’s not enough interest from boxing fans to pull in enough PPV buys to attract a large enough number to make Haney an appealing option for Gervonta’s next fight.

The 35-year-old Lomachenko isn’t the right name that Haney needs right now because Loma looked terrible in his last fight against Jamaine Ortiz, and fans’ perception is he’s a faded fighter.

At the very least, Lomachenko is seen as a guy fighting two divisions above his natural weight class of 126, going up against a fighter in Haney that should be campaigning at 154.

Given Haney’s massive size for the 135-b division, he needs a win over a super talent like Shakur Stevenson to punch his ticket to get a fight against Gervonta Davis. Unfortunately, that’s a fight that Haney likely loses, and he wouldn’t take it anyway.

It’s not enough that Haney (29-0, 15 KOs) has all the belts at lightweight. He’s not viewed as the best at 135, and he’s not rated as high on the pound-for-pound list as Shakur Stevenson.

Haney is just a guy that fans view as a fighter that beat George Kambosos Jr to collect his belts, and he’s not viewed as a great talent.

If Gervonta (29-0, 27 KOs) wants belts, which he doesn’t, he can wait for Haney to vacate them to soon move to 140.

“He needs to focus on May the 20th. We’ll handle him after. I don’t really want to speak on him,” said Gervonta Davis last Saturday night when asked by the media what his message is for undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney.

It’s unlikely that Haney will put in that kind of performance against Lomachenko that will build huge interest from boxing fans in a match between him and Gervonta. As we saw in his last two fights against Kambosos, Haney does a lot of clinching, jabbing & moving. His style is very boring.