By Brian Webber: Tim Bradley believes Vasily Lomachenko will look to “expose” Devin Haney late in their fight on May 20th when the hulking undisputed lightweight champion tires.
Haney (29-0, 15 KOs) is putting his 160+ lb body through pure torture to melt down to 135, and there’s a real possibility that he will be drained for their fight on ESPN PPV at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
When you have a fighter like Haney, who draining 20+ lbs to get down to a weight class that he should no longer physically be competing in, you’ll see him zombie-fied at the weigh-in, looking like totally exhausted in the second half of the contest when the weight shift starts to sink him.
Lomachenko being underestimated
Max Kellerman: “Devin Haney and Vasily Lomachenko will meet on May 20th in Las Vegas for the actual undisputed lightweight championship of the world.
“It’s interesting. Tank is the division’s biggest star. Shakur is the best fighter, but Devin Haney is the undisputed champ, right? This fight against Lomachenko. There’s only one fight at lightweight. It’s Devin Haney.
“Haney seems to be pretty much universally acknowledged as the favorite in this fight, and I understand that, but it does seem to me that Lomachenko has real chances, and I’m curious to see what you think of that. Is he being underestimated here, Lomachenko?”
Tim Bradley: “Oh yeah, very underestimated. You got to understand that when Lomachenko has a subpar performance, he usually comes back with a vengeance. When he lost to [Orlando] Salido, he came back and dominated Gary Russell Jr. Think about that.
“Then he had a subpar performance against Teo [Lopez Jr]. He came back and dominated [Masayoshi] Nakatani. He had a subpar performance against [Jamaine] Ortiz. He’s going to come back.
“I’m telling you right now. Lomachenko fashion. He’s going to look to expose Haney, and I think he’s going to look to expose him late. Here’s why. Haney is a great mid-range to outside fighter. He’s great. He has fast hands, long arms, great jab, great counter-puncher, but where he lacks is inside.”
Haney will attempt to tie up repeatedly
“Typically, when you get inside, and you pass that threshold on Haney, he looks to tie up,” said Bradley. “Well, Lomachenko knows how to break tie-ups. That’s why you’re already hearing Haney and his side saying, ‘He’s a dirty fighter on the inside,’ because they know they’re going to attempt to tie him up, and Lomachenko is not going to allow him to do that.
“One more thing about Haney. If you watch him against [Joseph] ‘JoJo’ Diaz. JoJo Diaz was able to close that gap within four rounds. Lomachenko, if he starts fast with that in-and-out movement and with his quick reflexes and quick punches, he’s going to b able to get on the inside a lot quicker than JoJo Diaz, and he’s going to b able to be able to reign havoc on Devin Haney.”
Kellerman: “It’s interesting because Haney, who says the middle distance is his distance. I wouldn’t say the inside is Loma’s fight, but going from middle to inside is Loma’s fight, right?”
“I think Haney is too big,” said Shakur Stevenson to Inside Boxing Live, saying that Devin Haney has too much size for Lomachenko, who started his professional career at 126 in 2013.
“I think size is going to play a big part. He was complaining about Lomachenko being dirty, but that don’t matter when you that big. What can he do? What can he do to you? You can be dirty to him,” said Shakur.
Devin will lean on Loma
“You can put your body weight on him, and he’s going to get tired from that. I just think Devin is too big for him, but Lomachenko is still Lomachenko. He’s going to have some moments,” Stevenson said.
“The thing with Lomachenko where he’s going wrong. He didn’t use to do this when he fought. He’d get his engine started around three or round four. Now it’s round five and round six when his engine gets going, and I think that’s a big downfall for him. I don’t know if he can do that with Devin,” said Shakur.
“Yeah, you can’t let Devin come out with a lead of five or six points and fight back because Devin can slow the pace,” said Chris Algieri about Lomachenko not being able to afford to start too slow against Haney.
“He’s very good at keeping it long. With the physical size of being able to tie him up and spin him. I agree with you 100%.”
“He’s going to be in shape too,” said Stevenson about Haney.
“Hell, yeah, he’s already in shape,” said Algieri.
“Devin Haney is coming in as the undisputed champion has more confidence and more swag to his demeanor. Maybe he wasn’t sure he belonged there,” said Paulie Malignaggi to ProBox TV.
“His presence at the press conference showed me that he feels he is the champion, and he is the champion, and he’s letting everyone know that,” said Paulie.
Mindgames being played by Lomachenko
“Lomachenko seemed to be like he was trying to make himself look a little weaker than he is,” said Lomachenko. “He was a little too humble to me for my liking. Lomachenko knows who he is more than anybody else.
“It was interesting psychological games trying to be played there because Haney was trying to big-up himself as much as he could. I felt that Lomachenko was trying to downplay himself as much as he could,” said Malignaggi.
“I’ve called a bunch of Lomachenko’s fights,” said Algieri. After his loss to Teofimo Lopez when he had the shoulder injury, he came into that fighter meeting guns blazing, calling out everyone that thought he lost the fight.
“He said, ‘Andre Ward, you’re the only one that thought I won the fight.’ He’s a very confident guy, almost to the point of borderline arrogant in terms of how he comes to the ring.
“It’s a very good point noticing that he was not like that going into this fight. He let Haney be that guy,” said Algieri.
“You don’t get that good unless you have a chip on your shoulder,” said Malignaggi about Lomachenko. “There’s also a lot of mind games at this level. He’s also like trying to play the reverse because a lot of people have started to write him off. So, I think he’s saying, ‘Let them write me off,'” said Paulie about Lomachenko.
