In a card that was filled with knockout victories for the A-side fighters, #4 WBC lightweight ontender Devin Haney (22-0, 14 KOs) stopped Antonio Moran (24-4 17 KOs) by a highlight reel seventh round knockout on a Matchroom Boxing/DAZN card at the MGM National Harbor, in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
Haney, 20, setup his knockout with a jab to the midsection followed by a right to the head. It helped Haney that Moran was in the process of trying to throw a right hand of his own t the same time that Haney threw his right. His shot got there first, and the rest was history.
It wasn’t an entirely one-sided fight, even though it seemed that way at times. Moran, 28, gave Haney problems with his body punching in the fourth and fifth rounds. He had Haney looking in distress in the fifth after he trapped him against the ropes and landed some hard body shots that had Haney illegally dipping below the waist to get out of the way of his hard body shots. Referee Kenny Chevalier blew a knockdown call in the fifth round when Haney stepped on Moran’s lead foot and hit him with a body shot at the same time. The referee didn’t see Haney stepping on Moran’s foot, so he gave him credit for the knockdown. Moran wasn’t too pleased about the referee blowing such an important call.
It was a decent win for Haney, but not as good as his promoter Eddie Hearn made it out to be. Moran came into the fight having been recently beaten by Jose Pedraza by a 10 round unanimous decision last June. If not for that, it would have been a better victory for Haney. But the fact that Hearn selected Moran after his loss to Pedraza, it looked like he was picking out a guy for a showcase fight for Haney rather than selecting someone that actually had a chance to beat him.
With the victory, Haney will now be fighting unbeaten #2 WBC Zaur Abdullaev (11-0, 7 KOs) in a World Boxing Council lightweight title eliminator, according to Haney’s promoter Eddie Hearn. The winner of the Haney vs. Abdullaev fight will face the winner of the Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Luke Campbell fight. That should be really interesting. However, the way Haney fought tonight, he’s not going to be able to beat Lomachenko. He’s not that of a talent. Haney is a good fighter, but he’s not a great fighter like Lomachenko is.
- May 25, 2019; Oxon Hill, M
