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Mike CoppingerESPN
Devin Haney and Vasiliy Lomachenko are finalizing a deal for a May 20 fight in Las Vegas for the undisputed lightweight championship, sources told ESPN on Friday.
The fight for Haney’s four 135-pound titles will be an ESPN PPV, sources said.
Haney, a practicing Muslim, preferred to fight Lomachenko before Ramadan, a month of fasting from sunrise to sunset that begins March 22 and ends April 21. However, he recently told ESPN he conceded to the May date to accommodate the Top Rank on ESPN schedule.
“It’s hard to train and do a full training camp when you’re fasting because you can’t eat from sun up to sundown,” Haney, 24, said during an interview with ESPN at the end of January. “I would have to spar and drink no water during the daytime, or I would have to just not train until nighttime, but I train two to three times a day, so I couldn’t cram in two or three workouts just in the nighttime.”
Haney (29-0, 15 KOs) captured the undisputed championship in June with a wide-points win over George Kambosos in Australia. Haney returned to his opponent’s home country for the October rematch and again prevailed in a rout.
Lomachenko (17-2, 11 KOs) was lined up for the shot at Kambosos before Russia invaded Ukraine. He elected to remain in Ukraine rather than head to Australia for the fight, and the opportunity headed Haney’s way.
Haney, who fights out of Las Vegas, is ESPN’s No. 1 lightweight and No. 9 pound-for-pound boxer. Lomachenko is ESPN’s No. 2 boxer at 135 pounds and was widely recognized as the pound-for-pound king before his upset loss to Teofimo Lopez in 2020.
The 35-year-old Lomachenko is a former three-division champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. He defeated Jamaine Ortiz in October via unanimous decision in a far tougher than expected fight.
“At one point Loma was No. 1 pound-for-pound,” Haney told ESPN in January. “He was the guy that everyone was praising and even though his last performance wasn’t his best performance, he’s still someone that you cannot sleep on.”
Haney was the WBC’s No. 1 contender in 2019, but rather than fight him, Lomachenko was elevated to franchise champion, a designation the Mexico-based organization created that allowed titleholders to evade mandatory obligations.
The fight will likely be Haney’s last at 135 pounds, he said, before he moves up to 140 pounds, another reason he “wanted the fight to be sooner than later.”
At 140 pounds, Haney could meet the winner of the June 10 bout between Josh Taylor and Lopez, but there’s also Ryan Garcia and Gervonta Davis who meet at a 136-pound catchweight April 22.