Devin Haney vs. Vasiliy Lomachenko Fight Card, Odds, & Predictions

Devin Haney’s (29-0) second defense of his undisputed lightweight crown goes down this Saturday, May 20, inside MGM Grand in Las Vegas as he faces former three-weight champion and former WBA, WBO, and WBC lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko (17-2). Haney is the betting favorite in the boxing odds at -250.

THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE KING.

Welcome to #HaneyLoma fight week ♟️ pic.twitter.com/KhkPBzL5CZ

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) May 15, 2023

This is mainly because of his perfect record of 29 wins with 15 TKO/KOs and his supreme youth advantage over Lomachenko, who is 11 years older. Meanwhile, the challenger comes in as the underdog in online sports betting at +250 because he has already suffered two losses in his professional career in 19 total bouts.

Both fighters’ morale is considerably high, with them carrying respective winning streaks of 29 (for Haney) and three (for Lomachenko). Furthermore, both are eager to prove that they are the best in one of the most stacked weight classes in today’s boxing, featuring other top contenders such as Gervonta Davis, Shakur Stevenson, William Zepeda, Ryan Garcia, and Frank Martin.

Devin Haney Recent Fight Results

Devin Haney began his professional boxing career at the very young age of 17 and quickly collected 13 wins, including four stoppages, to earn his way to title fights. In March 2017, Haney had his first taste of a championship after he won the vacant WBC Youth World Lightweight title against Maximino Toala via fourth-round TKO. 

Following this maiden world title win, “The Dream” strung up nine more successive victories to add the IBF USBA Lightweight title, WBC International Lightweight title, WBO Inter-Continental Lightweight title, and WBC Interim World Lightweight title to his collection. The 24-year-old’s dream of becoming a boxing champion came to fruition in November 2019.

Haney fought Alfredo Santiago for the WBC World Lightweight title and masterfully beat him in a one-sided, unanimous decision win to officially call himself a world boxing champion at 20. The now Las Vegas resident immediately had three straight title defenses after besting Yuriorkis Gamboa, Jorge Linares, and Joseph Diaz, all via unanimous decisions.

His coronation as the undisputed 135-pound champion came in June 2022 when he outpointed George Kambosos Jr. unanimously to not only retain his WBC title but also add the IBF World Lightweight title, WBA Super World Lightweight title, and WBO World Lightweight title. Haney repeated the beating of Kambosos Jr. in their October 2022 rematch.

.@RealDevinHaney finding his range 🎯 #HaneyKambosos2 pic.twitter.com/Iz3UMMTzjq

— ESPN Ringside (@ESPNRingside) October 16, 2022

Vasiliy Lomachenko Recent Fight Results

Unlike Haney, who turned professional at an early age, Vasiliy Lomachenko had a lengthy and decorated amateur career that saw him win two Olympic gold medals and multiple national and world championship titles. The Ukrainian boxing superstar piled up 369 amateur wins and suffered only one loss throughout his unpaid run.

After this impressive stretch in the amateur ranks, Lomachenko finally made his professional debut in October 2013 and was matched against Jose Luis Ramirez for the WBO International Featherweight title. “Loma” proved that he is already a top contender in the division by obliterating Ramirez via fourth-round knockout.

However, in his second pro fight, Lomachenko sustained an early loss in his career after Orlando Salido scored a split decision win over him in his second bout as a professional, in March 2014. This setback became Loma’s motivation to bounce back and capture multiple belts. In June 2014, Lomachenko defeated Gary Russell Jr. to win the vacant WBO World Featherweight title.

Then, he defended it three times over Suriya Tatakhun, Gamalier Rodriguez, and Romulo Koasicha before moving up to the super featherweight division. The 35-year-old challenged Roman Martinez for the WBO Super Featherweight belt in June 2016 and stopped him in the fifth round via a knockout finish.

Once again, he fulfilled his role as a super featherweight champion by defending his belt four times against challenges from Nicholas Walters (seventh-round corner retirement), Jason Sosa (ninth-round corner retirement), Miguel Marriaga (seventh-round corner retirement), and Guillermo Rigondeaux (sixth-round corner retirement).

Following this successful run in the 130-pound division, Lomachenko moved up to the lightweight division, where he was welcomed by Jorge Linares in May 2018. Loma stopped Linares in 10 rounds to capture the WBA Super World Lightweight belt. The former two-time Olympic medalist sustained this success by adding three more wins and two more belts.

Lomachenko defeated Jose Pedraza for the WBO World Lightweight title in December 2018, knocked out Anthony Crolla in four rounds in April 2019, and unanimously beat Luke Campbell to retain the WBA and WBO belts and collect the vacant WBC World Lightweight title. His reign, though, was halted by Teofimo Lopez in October 2020, when he received his second career loss via unanimous decision.

The Ukrainian, who now resides in California, rebounded from that Lopez loss with three consecutive wins over Masayoshi Nakatani (ninth-round TKO in June 2021), Richard Commey (unanimous decision in December 2021), and Jamaine Ortiz (unanimous decision in October 2022). Lomachenko looks to score an upset against Haney to reclaim his lost glory.

.@VasylLomachenko showed heart, skill, and everything in between tonight. @BoostMobile x #LomaOrtiz pic.twitter.com/huS8IqotFN

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) October 30, 2022

Devin Haney vs. Vasiliy Lomachenko: Tale of the Tape

Devin Haney vs. Vasiliy Lomachenko: Fight Analysis

On paper, Devin Haney holds the advantages in age (11 years younger), height (three inches taller), reach (six inches longer), and record (no losses in 29 bouts). But Vasiliy Lomachenko has superior experience in terms of fighting more quality opponents and hisTKO/KO percentage is 13 points higher.

Stylistically, it presents an exciting fight because Haney is a defensive-minded boxer who loves to utilize his reach advantage over his lightweight counterparts fully and loves to look for opportunities to counter. On the other hand, Lomachenko is one of the most well-rounded boxers who is relentless in pushing the pace of his fights by throwing volume punches.

The key for the defending champion in this showdown is to maximize his full reach to keep Lomachenko at bay with his jabs. This way, he can make the challenger more desperate to land his punches, thus opening more opportunities for Haney to look for counterpunches and eventually cruise his way into another victory via decision.

For Lomachenko, the game plan should focus on cutting the angle and minimizing the space that Haney could operate by pressuring him against the ropes before throwing his signature power combinations which allowed him to become a three-division world champion. He can also use his patented feints to see how Haney reacts to them and pair them with his high boxing IQ to deploy the best point of attack for his punches.

Devin Haney vs. Vasiliy Lomachenko: Date and Start Time

May 20, 2023, 7 p.m. PT

May 20, 2023, 9 p.m. CT

May 20, 2023, 10 p.m. ET

Devin Haney vs. Vasiliy Lomachenko: Fight Prediction

Official Prediction: Late TKO/KO victory for Vasiliy Lomachenko.

See the entire Devin Haney vs. Vasiliy Lomachenko odds and wagers here.