Devin Haney says he’s better than Vasily Lomachenko in every department in boxing, and he’s going to prove it on May 20th by putting a whooping on the two-time Olympic gold medalist.
Haney (29-0, 15 KOs) is finishing up his training to defend his undisputed lightweight championship against Lomachenko (17-2, 11 KOs) in the main event on ESPN PPV at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Devin says Lomachenko should have fought him four years ago when he was just 20 and still hadn’t gained the experience & confidence that he now possesses.
However, Lomachenko’s manager Egis Klimas says there was no reason to fight Haney four years ago because he’d achieved nothing to set himself apart from the other fighters. He was just another fighter that wanted to fight Lomachenko, but he hadn’t done anything in boxing.
What Haney has going for him in this fight is youth and huge size for the lightweight division. One question that fans have is whether Haney will make the 135-lb limit for the Loma fight, and if he does, will he be drained?
Haney says Lomachenko waited too long
“From Top Rank came the name [Jamaine] Ortiz, and I called Loma, and I said, ‘Look, you can’t fight a champion now. You already fought all the veterans. How about if we fight Ortiz?’ And he was like, ‘Oh, my God, it’s good because he’s the best prospect today,'” said manager Egis Klimaas to Blood Sweat & Tears at Top Rank Boxing.
“He said, ‘He’s the best prospect today that we can see in the division,’ and he said, ‘I would love to fight.’ I seen him in the sparrings here, and, of course, I thought it was going to be a dangerous fight, but Loma likes danger. He walks with danger.
“Everybody is waiting for him [Lomachenko] to do something, ‘Wow,’ but he does enough to win the fight. Even those big guys with the long reach, the tall guys, it’s not a secret what he does in the ring,” said Klimas.
“I did what I needed to for the win,” said Lomachenko about his victory over Jamaine Ortiz. “I knew that I controlled the fight and controlled the situation. I knew where I needed to do more. For me, it was very good preparation for my next fight,” said Lomachenko.
“You first got to beat yourself before you can beat somebody else,” said Haney. “Even in the gym, you’re training hard, and you beat yourself down. You prepare for that one night. We go through a 12-week training camp just to prepare for one night.
“We die, we starve ourselves, our bodies are sore, we go through sparring, we beat each other up, which is for one night. Just to beat that one person across the ring.
“I thought Loma should have fought me four years ago when I was calling for him, and I told him, and I said, ‘Fight me now because it’s only going to get worse.’ Now it’s the worst time to fight me because now I’m a champion, and now my confidence is through the roof. I got the momentum.
“I got more experience. Everything has gotten better since four years ago,” said Haney.
Devin wants to beat Loma bad
“The fight is everything we’ve been looking for in the last four years,” said Devin’s father, Bill Haney, about the Lomachenko contest. “Devin has matured and developed both inside and outside the ring. We couldn’t be more happy about the fight right now.”
“Loma made me wait four years to fight him. I’m upset,” said Haney. “I don’t like him. I want to beat him bad. I do everything better. I hit harder, I’m faster, stronger, more athletic, and I got more heart. There’s nothing he can do better than me.
“On May 20th, watch me whoop on an amateur. The youngest undisputed champion ever,” said Haney.
“We never chased Haney or any other fighter, but father Bill ran into me exactly four years ago and asked me, ‘How possible is it for us to fight Vasily Lomachenko?'” said Klimas. “I said, ‘Bill, it’s not happening. You guys are just starting your career. It’s not happening.
“‘When your kid achieves something in the sport, then we can talk about it, but it’s not happening.’ Did he achieve something? Yes, he became the undisputed champion,” Klimas said about Haney. “Right now, we’re putting the fight together.”
“He’s the undisputed world champion. He’s a real champion right now,” Lomachenko said of Devin. “Four years ago; why is he talking about this? Now for him, it’ll be more easy than it would have been four years ago. We’ll see.
“He has a chance to prove what he said. No more words on May 20,” said Lomachenko.
