Devin Haney fined $400K for shoving Lomachenko, labels him “sore loser”

By Boxing News - 05/24/2023 - Comments

By Jim Calfa: An unhappy Devin Haney has revealed that he was fined $400,000 by the Nevada Commission for the hard shove he gave Vasyl Lomachenko at the weigh-in last Friday ahead of their clash last Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) still won the fight by a twelve round unanimous decision, albeit in a controversial outcome, which the boxing community disagrees with.

The victorious Haney, perhaps bitter about the $400K fine and the huge backlash against him over his win, labeled the former three-division world champion Lomachenko (17-3, 11 KOs) a “sore loser” and told him to “stop crying” and “take your loss like a man.”

Lomachenko hasn’t been talking in the media since his loss, to it’s unclear what Haney is talking about when he says Loma needs to “stop crying.” The fans and the media are the ones that are still talking about the fight, not Lomachenko.

It’s got to be tough for Haney because he’s not receiving credit from boxing fans for the biggest win of his career, except for a small percentage.

Haney should give Lomachenko a rematch

Obviously, the noble thing to do that would endear him to the people would be to over a rematch with Lomachenko to clear up the controversy, as that would make Haney look good.

However, one gets the sense that Haney lacks confidence in himself that he can the rematch and that he doesn’t want to take the risk of losing out on a massive payday against Gervonta Davis.

If Haney believed he could win, he would fight Lomachenko in a second, prove that he was the better fighter, and then face Gervonta.

Haney probably won’t do that because he’s not sure he can win, and he doesn’t want to lose out on a massive payday against Gervonta. It’s pretty easy to understand Haney’s mindset.

Despite his bold talk, he’s not confident in his ability, and he knows he got lucky with the scoring. Now, if Tank Davis said that he wouldn’t fight Haney unless he gives Lomachenko a rematch to clear up the controversy, then we’d see a second fight because he wants to face Gervonta in the worst way.

“It was a hell of a chess match and something that a real boxing person could appreciate,” said trainer Buddy McGirt to MillCity Boxing about the Haney vs. Lomachenko fight.

“I would like to see a rematch, but in my honest opinion, I don’t think the appeal is going to do any good,” said Buddy, reacting to being told that Lomachenko’s manager Egis Klimas has appealed his to the four sanctioning bodies.

Loma should have stepped on the gas

“Either Loma or a draw. One of the two” said Buddy on who he would have given the fight to last Saturday night for the Haney vs. Lomachenko fight. “Of course, in the last round, Loma admitted himself that he took his foot off the gas.

“In the last round, he should have kept his foot on the gas, but he didn’t. He admitted it. But personally, either he won or a draw.  Again, not putting pressure on that last round. When you’re a challenger, you close the round as a champion.

“When I heard the ten second knock, I thought he was going to do something. He didn’t do nothing. That’s when you really got to do something because that’s what the judges remember. They remember those last ten, fifteen seconds, but he didn’t do nothing.

“I felt bad for Loma. There should be a rematch, but I know that’s not going to happen. I believe to beat the champion, you got to go out and close the show.

“They need to bring back 15 round fights, so you won’t have decisions like this. Those last three rounds separate the men from the boys. When you’ve got even round fights, like ten rounds and twelve rounds, it’s easy to get a draw. Fifteen rounds, that’s an odd number.

“It would be hard to make it a draw or have widespread on the points. The ten point must system is good, but at the same time, I think they should go by rounds. That way, you could really see what the judges looking at.

“When you see a four point gap, you think, ‘What fight was he looking at?’ You don’t know because I don’t know how the scoring system works. I think they should go back to the rounds. Judge it by rounds.

The scoring was off

“Someone showed on the card that when Loma had a good round, the judge gave that round to Haney 10-9. It’s like, how did he do that? What fight were you watching to do that?” said McGirt.

“That’s not right, and there’s no other way of putting it. That’s not right. If you see this and you continue to allow these guys to judge fights, you’re just adding to the problem.

“How do you knock a guy down, and it’s an even round?” said McGirt, talking about the judge Dave Moretti, who scored the round Ryan Garcia was knocked down by Gervonta Davis as an even round at 10-10 last April. Moretti is the same judge that scored round ten to Haney last Saturday night, which was arguably Lomachenko’s best round of the fight. The judge turned in a 116-112 score [8-4] for Haney.

“It’s a shame that you’re putting fighter’s lives and careers in the hands that are making these mistakes,” said McGirt.

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