After Katie Taylor and Chantelle Cameron take centre stage in Dublin on Saturday night, attention will turn to the second part of a fantastic double-header featuring another boxing icon.

In the early hours of Sunday morning at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, live on Sky Sports, all the lightweight belts will be on the line between Devin Haney and Vasyl Lomachenko.

Lomachenko finds himself as the underdog (9/4) for the first time in his career and, now 35, is aiming to pull out one last great performance against a young, undefeated and very talented favourite (4/9) in Haney.

A double Olympic champion and arguably the greatest amateur of all-time with a record of 396-1, he is the fastest person in history to become a three-weight world champion as a professional and was considered the pound-for-pound number one until his shock loss to Teofimo Lopez in October 2020. Lomachenko blamed a serious shoulder injury on the defeat as he gave away too many early rounds before rallying late on, and that result opened the door for a major shake-up in the 135lb division.

Lopez was the victim of a huge upset when dropped and outpointed in his first defence by George Kambosos Jr, who was then twice taken to school by Haney in back-to-back wide decision victories for the American. Haney now has all the real estate at lightweight and has all the hype behind him, with a perfect 29-fight record (15 early) and the world at his feet at just 24 years old.

Haney has the fundamentals down to a tee, as he controls the range superbly with his brilliant jab and excellent footwork. It was those attributes that allowed him to easily outbox Kambosos twice and, given he is huge for the weight, the common consensus seems to be that he will just be too big and fresh for the veteran in the opposite corner this weekend, but is it that simple?

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I don’t believe it is. That’s not to say I don’t rate Haney very highly, but Lomachenko has become somewhat the forgotten man and I think it is too soon to be writing off such a brilliant fighter. Let’s not forgot the dazzling run of victories over a six-year period that saw him make a host of top fighters quit on their stool and earned him a nickname of the ‘The Matrix’, thanks to his sublime footwork, reflexes, variety, feints and angles.

He has bounced back with three wins since the Lopez reverse and after looking as good as ever in stopping Masayoshi Nakatani in nine rounds and outpointing Richard Commey, he was made to work much harder than expected against Jamaine Ortiz last time. Ortiz set a ferocious pace and the much bigger man knew Lomachenko better than most, having been hired as chief sparring partner by the Ukrainian in the past, but the Ukrainian still won well enough, and it may have been the perfect preparation for a fight with Haney.

Many point to Haney being huge for the weight and while that is true, he has also been making lightweight for a long time now and, as he’s developing physically, the time when boiling down to 135lb becomes too much might be imminent. Another key factor could be the southpaw stance of Lomachenko, as Haney hasn’t fought many ‘lefties’ at all and was given serious trouble by the backhand of ‘Jo Jo’ Diaz in late 2021 when he last faced a southpaw.

Haney vs Lomachenko: Big-fight details

• Date and venue: Saturday May 20 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas
• Main event ringwalks (approx): 0500 BST (Sunday May 21)
• Belts: Haney’s IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO lightweight titles
• TV Channel: Sky Sports
• Sky Bet odds: Lomachenko 9/4, Haney 4/11

A lot of how you judge Haney’s chances here depends on how you rate the Kambosos form. Yes, the Australian beat Lopez fair and square, but the latter didn’t look anything like the same man that beat Lomachenko that night and it has since come to light that he was having all sorts of problems out of the ring at that time. There is a chance that form could be overrated and, those wins aside, Haney’s record looks a lot more ordinary.

Like the main event in Ireland, the favourite to win on points is clearly a big runner but looks too short at 4/6. You can get 7/2 for Lomachenko to prevail by the same outcome and that is where the value lies here for me.

Yes, Haney has youth, size and reach on his side, but Lomachenko has taken very little punishment for his age, is used to fighting bigger men and has the footwork to get past the lead left hand of the favourite. If anyone can take the jab away from Haney, it is Lomachenko with his superb ring IQ and, more motivated than ever for this one, I believe the underdog is capable of pulling off the upset.

Posted at 1250 BST on 19/05/23

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