Lightweights will compete for the absolute

At the end of May, one of the most anticipated fights of the year in professional boxing will take place in Las Vegas. In it, the title of the absolute world champion in lightweight (up to 61.2 kg) will be contested by two superstars – the American Devin Haney who owns this status and the Ukrainian Vasily Lomachenko, who has just gone through a rather difficult period in his career.

The fact that Devin Haney and Vasily Lomachenko are close to signing a contract for the fight was reported by ESPN, which will broadcast it in pay-per-view format. According to him, the match will take place on May 20 in Las Vegas. At the same time, the preferred slot for practicing Islam Haney was the segment from the end of March to the end of April, that is, before the preparation of Ramadan, which complicates Muslim boxers. However, the deadline had to be pushed back due to demands from both the TV channel and the Top Rank promotion company.

This is a fight that is destined to turn into a hit and enter the main list in 2023. First, because of his formal rank. It will play not just the title of world champion in lightweight, but the title of absolute champion, that is, who owns all four significant belts – the World Boxing Council (WBC), the International Boxing Federation (IBF), the World Boxing Association (WBA) and the World Boxing Organization (WBO). It currently belongs to Devin Haney.

Secondly, the reputation of rivals is important. Both are the undisputed superstars of modern professional boxing. They are even sometimes called phenomena, which is quite understandable.

Devin Haney is only 24 years old, but at such a young age, almost young for his species, he already has a chic track record consisting exclusively of victories. The American has 29 of them. And in recent years, Haney dealt with – by knockout or achieving convincing success on points – exclusively with top fighters like Russian Zaur Abdullaev, Cuban Yuriorkis Gamboa, Venezuelan Jorge Linares, American Joseph Diaz. None of them could put up really stubborn resistance to the American fighter. Unless the end of the duel with Linares was rather difficult for him. Haney won the title of absolute world champion by defeating the famous Australian George Kambosos last summer, after which in October he did not allow him to take revenge in a second fight.

In all unofficial ratings of the best boxers, regardless of the weight category, Devin Haney, who has already announced that after the May performance he is going to move to the next category – up to 63.5 kg, is very high. In the ESPN rankings, he is in the top ten.

Vasily Lomachenko is much older than his opponent: he turned 35 in February. And he has a much longer and more interesting career. The two-time Olympic champion, who was practically invulnerable in amateurs, already in his third professional fight, in 2014, was able to win the WBO featherweight championship belt (up to 57.2 kg). Later, Lomachenko won the world title in two heavier categories – up to 59 kg and up to 61.2 kg, and thanks to his flamboyant style, he gained tremendous popularity with the public.

The intrigue related to his future arose in October 2020. Vasily Lomachenko, owning three lightweight titles – WBO, WBC, WBA – tried to add to them the IBF title, the only one that he lacked for a complete set. It belonged to the young Teofimo Lopez. Due to the lack of experience, the American was considered a clear outsider of the match against an outstanding opponent, but sensationally took the upper hand on points.

Restoring his reputation and re-getting the opportunity to participate in top battles, Vasily Lomachenko coped with two rather strong opponents – the Japanese Masayoshi Nakatani and the Ghanaian Richard Commey. At the beginning of 2022, Lomachenko was supposed to fight for the titles of the best lightweight again. True, it no longer belonged to Teofimo Lopez, but to George Cambosos, who managed to win against him. But then another incident happened. After the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, Vasily Lomachenko enlisted in the ranks of the territorial defense, and his return to boxing was delayed. The Ukrainian started regular training only in the summer, and entered the ring in an official match in October. It was a fight against the clearly inferior Lomachenko in the class of American Jamaine Ortiz, whose great achievement was the fact that he held out against the favorite for all 12 rounds.

An interesting nuance is connected with the May battle. Vasily Lomachenko and Devin Haney should have crossed back in 2019, when the Ukrainian was at the peak of fame, and the American, in fact, was just beginning his ascent to it. Haney then received the status of a contender for the WBC title that belonged to Lomachenko and repeatedly demanded a meeting with the champion, using expressions either on the verge, or already beyond the foul. The structure, however, seems to have considered such a clash premature, and in order to avoid it without violating the rules, Vasily Lomachenko was promoted in rank, making him the so-called franchise champion.

Alexey Dospekhov