Devin Haney remains undisputed lightweight champion

In Las Vegas on Saturday, American Devin Haney defeated previous champion Vasiliy Lomachenko to keep hold of the undisputed lightweight world championship.

The pair slugged it out for 12 rounds, but neither was able to land a decisive blow, and the fight went to the judges’ scorecards.

Devin Haney remains undisputed lightweight champion

As the judges had seen it, Haney had shaded what was a close fight, and they returned a unanimous victory for the American.

However, the judges all scored the fight as very close, with their final cards reading 116-112, 115-113, 115-113 in favour of Haney.

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The 24-year-old from San Francisco retains his unbeaten record and moves out to 30-0 in his professional boxing career.

Haney was the early aggressor, arguably giving him a key advantage despite Lomachenko growing into the bout.

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Lomachenko makes a fight of it

Lomachenko is a wily veteran at 35, and he found a way back into the fight and even had Haney wobbling after landing an uppercut in the third round.

The fight’s middle rounds gave the impression that Haney had regained the upper hand, but Lomachenko finished well as the MGM Grand Garden Arena audience roared the former champion on.

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Although Lomachenko landed more blows throughout the fight—124 to the American’s 110—Haney nevertheless rocked him with a left hook in the seventh round and proceeded to strike precise counterpunches on his target.

Haney keeps his titles from the World Boxing Council, International Boxing Federation, World Boxing Association, and World Boxing Organization thanks to the victory.

With a landslide unanimous decision victory over George Kambosos in Melbourne in June 2022, he became the first undisputed lightweight world champion since Pernell Whitaker in 1990.

After enlisting in a Ukrainian territorial defense unit following Russia’s invasion of the nation, Lomachenko returned to the ring in October of last year.

After Saturday’s loss, the veteran’s record slumps to 17-3 with 11 knockouts.

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