After 12 very competitive rounds, Devin Haney retained his undisputed lightweight championship over a very game Vasiliy Lomachenko. The fight was billed as “Checkmate,” and it lived up to the name. From the sound of the opening bell, fans were treated to a tactical but action-packed fight. Haney was looking to fight from behind his jab all night. He was the bigger fighter and wanted to use his size to control the fight. He was jabbing well but also punching the body well all night long. Body punching in boxing is not eye-catching, but if you looked at Loma’s midsection and rib areas, you could see the damage being done. Lomachenko’s offense was more effective when he was able to implement it. The fight was back and forth, with each fighter having moments as the championship rounds approached.

In Round 10, Lomachenko looked like a vintage version of himself, opening up his offense and dominating the round. Lomachenko must have sensed blood in the water because he came out on fire in the eleventh round as well, buzzing Haney and banking another round in this close fight. He did not lose any sense of urgency in the twelfth round, keeping the pressure on and beating Haney to the punch consistently to sweep the championship rounds. At the end of twelve rounds, I had Vasiliy Lomachenko winning 115-113.

The judges, however, saw it differently. The score cards read (115-113, 115-113, 116-112) for Devin Haney. The decision was booed resoundingly by the Las Vegas crowd.

Personally, I feel the fight was scored well and reflected how close the fight was. However, I was not a fan of Dave Moretti’s 116-112 card, considering he scored the tenth round for Devin Haney when that was far and away a Lomachenko round. This was a very close fight, and I completely disagree with the notion of a robbery. As Stephen “Breadman” Edwards says, “a fight is 12 individually scored rounds, not a 36-minute fight”.

With the win, Devin Haney moves to (30-0, 15 KOs, and Vasily Lomachenko drops to 17-3, 11 KOs, snapping his 3-fight winning streak.