By Jim Calfa: Jeff Mayweather feels that with the way Devin Haney fought against Vasyl Lomachenko last Saturday, he stands “no chance” of defeating Gervonta Davis if those two fight next.
Jeff says the undisputed lightweight champion Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) took too many chances against Lomachenko, and this resulted in him getting hit a lot.
As Jeff points out, it only takes one shot from a powerful puncher like Tank for you to be knocked out. For Haney to beat Gervonta (29-0, 27 KOs), he would have to fight the “perfect fight” and be extremely “precise” with his punches because he’ll get countered and taken out by Tank.
It’s unlikely that Haney can fix his porous defense to where he can box his way to a 12 round unanimous decision against Tank without getting clipped sooner or later.
Even with the same judging crew that worked his fight against Lomachenko last Saturday night, it would be next to impossible for Haney to see the final bell for the judges to give him another controversial decision.
If Haney just wants the Tank Davis fight so he can cash in with a massive $15 million payday like the one that the unproven Ryan Garcia received, he should push for the contest.
But if Haney hopes to win, he needs more experience so he can fix his non-existent defense and try and add some power to his game. It was troubling to see Lomachenko landing the harder blows, and hurting Haney in the 11th round.
Lomachenko will be king at 130
“I think a lot of people got caught up in Lomachenko’s age and Lomachenko being laid off and his commitment to his country and everything. I think everybody got caught up in that, and they thought,” said Jeff Mayweather to Fight Hub TV, giving his two cents on the Devin Haney vs. Vasily Lomachenko fight.
“I think early on, Lomachenko did exactly what he did when he was fighting Teofimo. I mean, he did nothing, and then he did come back, and he started to win rounds,” said Jeff.
Lomachenko did fight well early, and deserved to win some of the early rounds. He was a lot of aggressive early than he was in his loss to Teofimo Lopez. In the second half, Loma took over completely and was beating the living daylights out of Haney, apart from the 12th round.
“When he did, he looked really, really impressive,” said Jeff. “I think that made people forget about that he was giving away rounds too. I still thought the fight was close enough for either guy to win. That’s how close the fight was to me.
“If they had said, ‘Lomachenko,’ it would have been fine. I thought that was a little too much [116-112 score by Judge Dave Moretti] because I thought the fight was extremely close. I thought that if Lomachenko had stepped on the gas in the last round, he probably would have won the fight.
“That’s how close it was to me. I thought either guy could have won. What Devin did in the last round was kind of like shifting it his way because whoever wanted to win the last round was going to win the fight.
I think what he showed today really resurrected his career,” said Jeff about the 35-year-old Lomachenko. “I think a lot of people thought that Lomachenko was going to be done because Devin was much bigger. Not necessarily stronger but a bigger fighter, and that he was going to annihilate him.
“He showed that he belongs, he showed that he still belongs. The guy has been laid off for a whole year and haven’t done nothing in boxing for a whole year, doing stuff for his country. Nobody knew what he had left,” said Jeff about Loma.
“There’s no shame in losing to Devin, and there’s really no shame because the fight was close enough for him to even win,” Mayweather said. “So, I think the best route for him is to probably check out because he did really good for 135 pounds.
“I think if he drops back down to 130, he’ll be king again,” Jeff said about Lomachenko. “I think with his performance, his stock rises. His stock went back up. Right now, it’s just a matter of what weight division he chooses, and that’s 130 or 135. He’ll be alright in either one,” said Jeff.
Haney has “no chance” against Gervonta Davis
“I think that’s a great fight. That would be the perfect fight for boxing,” said Jeff about a bout between Gervonta Davis and Haney. “From the Devin that we saw tonight, he’d have to chance against Tank.
“Because of the way he fought tonight. He took more risks than he needed to. With Tank, it only takes one punch. So when you’re fighting Tank, you’re going to have to be precise.
“You’re going to have to be precise with everything that you do because if he hit you one time, the fight is going to be over. So you’re going to have to fight at a safe distance, and you’re going to have to do that the whole entire fight.
“Even Devin himself, he said he changed his fighting style tonight just for Lomachenko. Devin is smart enough to know that he can’t fight that same way with Tank.
“Leaving the belts off the table, the one thing is this. Either guy can beat either guy, but Tank is the one guy that is different from all the rest because he has power, and he has one-punch knockout power.
“So, Devin can be ahead of him by ten rounds, and Tank can hit you one time, and it might be over. The same thing with Shakur, but I’m not saying that they can’t fight a perfect fight. Those are two of the best boxers out there today.
“If anyone has a chance of beating Tank, it’s Shakur Stevenson, but we’re going to have to fight at a safe distance. They’re going to have to keep the distance.
“That’s the most important part of fighting Tank. Staying your distance and staying out of the range of being caught because once he hits you, it’s going to be over with,” said Jeff.
