Credit: Twitter
Devin Haney remains the undisputed lightweight boxing world champion after he claimed a controversial win over Vasiliy Lomachenko via unanimous decision. Haney had a favorable beginning but later, he faced probably one of the toughest fights of his career against Lomachenko, who put up a brilliant performance, and time and again put Haney on a back foot with countless jabs. Though Haney is an American, the Las Vegas crowd was heard chanting ‘Loma’ throughout the fight and booed Haney when he was declared the winner.
Haney put Loma in a tough spot with his body shots, and though it appeared that the Ukrainian would head for the victory, Haney somehow managed to lift another gear in the final round. During the entire fight, Lomachenko was the more active fighter, but all three judges scored the fight in Haney’s favor (116-112, 115-113 x 2). The fans showed sheer disbelief in the results, especially the 116-112 scorecard, and argued that the Ukrainian fighter has been “robbed”.
When he was asked if he felt he’d been robbed, the 35-year-old said, "I don’t want to talk about this. All people saw what happened here today," but he later broke down in his changing room.
Watch the video here:
In a post-match presser, Vasyl Lomachenko's manager Egis Klimas stated that they will appeal against the decision and said, "We're not gonna let it go, I guarantee we're gonna protest, we're gonna appeal. Somebody needs to end this injustice."
Here's how fans reacted to the win:
Notably, Haney is potentially set to clash against Shakur Stevenson in his next fight. The American fighter is now 30-0 and retains his World Boxing Association, International Boxing Federation, World Boxing Council, and World Boxing Organisation belts.
