User:MopJames123/sandbox
| Date | 20 May 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO, and The Ring lightweight titles | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
Devin Haney vs. Vasiliy Lomachenko, billed as Checkmate, is an upcoming lightweight professional boxing match contested between the undisputed WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO, and The Ring lightweight champion, Devin Haney and former unified lightweight champion and three division world Vasiliy Lomachenko. The bout will take place on 20 May 2022, the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.[1]
Background[edit]
On 19 August 2019, Lomachenko defeated Luke Campbell and won the vacant WBC title, despite holding and defending belts with other sanctioning bodies. Just two weeks after this, Devin Haney defeated Zaur Abdullaev and won the WBC interim title, thus becoming the WBC mandatory challenger. Lomachenko opted to be named the WBC "franchise champion" and Haney was elevated from interim to world champion. This prompted Haney to accuse Lomachenko of "ducking" him.[2]
On 27 March 2022, Haney struck a deal with unified lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr. to fight for the undisputed championship. Lomachenko declined to fight Kambosos, opting to stay and fight for his country after Russia invaded Lomachenko's country of Ukraine. Haney would defeat Kambosos to become the first undisputed lightweight champion since Pernell Whitaker. He would retain his titles by defeating Kambosos in a rematch that took place on 16 October 2022.
Discussions for the fight with Lomachenko began immediately after the Kambosos fight. Haney, a practicing muslim, indicated that he preferred the fight to take place before March, so as to not conflict with Ramadan. He also accused his promoter Top Rank of favoritism towards Lomachenko, claiming that Top Rank and Lomachenko's management wanted the fight pushed to May to force him stay weight-drained for longer.[3] Eventually, a deal was struck for a fight at the MGM Grand on May 20th.
Fight card[edit]
| Main card (ESPN / ESPN+) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Lightweight | Devin Haney (c) | Vasiliy Lomachenko | [a] | ||||
| Super Flyweight | Junto Nakatani | Andrew Moloney | [b] | ||||
| Lightweight | Raymond Muratalla | Jeremiah Nakathila | |||||
| Super Featherweight | Oscar Valdez | Adam Lopez | |||||
- ^ For WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO, and The Ring lightweight titles
- ^ For vacant WBO Super Flyweight title
References[edit]
- ^ Christ, Scott. "Devin Haney vs Vasiliy Lomachenko official for May 20, history with one another adds layers to PPV fight". Bad Left Hook.
- ^ "DEVIN HANEY BLASTS VASYL LOMACHENKO ... 'Stop Ducking Me!!!'". TMZ.
- ^ Nam, Sean. "Haney, Concerned With Ramadan, At Odds With Top Rank Over Lomachenko Fight Date". BoxingScene.