Via Sean Jones: Tim Bradley says Devin Haney should fight Vasyl Lomachenko now as this is the ideal time to beat him by taking advantage of the time he’s been inactive.
Haney, 23, plans to fight in October against little “Emperor” George Kambosos Jr in a rematch in Australia.
Lomachenko looks outstanding in his last two games against Richard Commey and Masayoshi Nakatani in 2021. If Haney faces that version of Lomachenko, he will likely lose badly and be disqualified.
The only obstacle standing in the way of a fight between Haney and Lomachenko in October was Kambosos with his rematch clause.
If Kambosos insists on fighting Haney next, the only option to knock him out of the way is to let him take a step aside. Given Kambosos’ previous preference for fighting Lomachenko, he should be open to the idea of avoiding it aside, but he could be asking for too much money to make it worthwhile.
“It was a great fight. Loma has been out for a while, but I can tell you this. Fighters, like the Loma, stay in shape all year round,” says Tim Bradley Against TV Hub when asked about his thoughts on Devin Haney being able to defend against Vasyl Lomachenko in October.
“You can’t depend on Loma being weak or anyone to become strong or Haney. But I think now is the right time, sort of Loma has been fired for so long.
Undisputed former 135 lb champion Kambosos (20-1, 10 KOs) has a rematch clause in his contract with Haney from their match on June 5, which he lost. by unanimous decision of 12 innings.
“If Haney was going to beat him, it would be now because he doesn’t want Loma to have a balanced fight at all. He doesn’t want him to adapt. So it was the perfect time. It was a great fight.
“Like I said, I think Haney can get him [Lomachenko]. Haney can control range and distance. I think there are some things he could tighten up, but I think the better the competition, the better Haney we’ll see,” Bradley said.
Haney is conflicted about rematching the former Kambosos lightweight champion next because he wants to have the best fight possible.
Fans didn’t want to see Haney fight Kambosos a second time because their fight was so one-sided that there was no interest in a second match.
The organizers of an event between them must know that Australian fans will not show up in the same numbers as the first game because they know the Kambosos will lose again.
What the organizers wouldn’t want is to book a massive 50,000-plus-seat stadium in Australia for the Haney vs. Kambosos II, and then only 5,000 fans came to see the possible match.
If Sean Jones is Australian, the last thing he wants to waste money on is a second game between Kambosos and Haney.
Former 3-division world champion Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs) did not go to war in 2022 as he defended his country from the Russian invasion.
Bradley felt that with Lomachenko in the ring, undisputed lightweight champion Haney (28-0, 15 KOs) couldn’t let him enter a tweaking match to get used to. Tim likes the idea of Haney gaining an edge over Lomachenko to get him while he’s less than 100%.
“Tank is my number 1 guy. I would say Tank, Lomachenko, and then you say Haney, but everyone else is right there. Tank, Loma, Haney,” Shawn Porter said when asked to rank his top three 135 lb boxers.
“That’s going to be very tight,” Porter said when asked if he thinks Haney will face Lomachenko in October.
“If a guy like Ryan [Garcia] lose to Lomachenko or Tank Davis if Ryan wasn’t injured, and Ryan said, ‘Hey, things are still going the way I want,’ putting him in the ring against Haney. Even though he lost to Tank, he was still able to defeat Haney.
“Every fight is great. We would rob ourselves if we said that this fight is worth nothing if either one loses,” Bradley said.
