Friday brought the first day that Devin Haney-Vasyl Lomachenko started to resemble the size of attraction it deserves. The undisputed lightweight title fight between a champion among the world’s finest fighters and a challenger among the finest of all time attracted queues to the weigh-in at the MGM Grand Garden Arena that was free for the public to attend.
High-profile and respected pundits – Timothy Bradley and Andre Ward among them – have made it to Las Vegas, the latter, who retired undefeated after successive victories over Sergey Kovalev, looking so youthful and healthy at his 39 years that he represents the most suitable possible argument for a fighter retiring while he remains at his peak.
Among those also at Friday’s weigh-in were Lou DiBella, so heavily involved with Haney’s two fights in Melbourne with George Kambosos Jr that established Haney as the undisputed champion, and Kambosos Jr, who earlier this week agreed promotional terms with Top Rank. Lomachenko rejected the fight with Kambosos Jr for all four lightweight titles – presenting Haney with the opportunity to replace him – to instead help defend his country amid the invasion of Russia. Kambosos Jr will almost certainly be hoping that the Ukrainian wins and defends his titles against him next.
The staged weigh-in, which came later than the advertised time of 4pm, came after a private weigh-in on Friday morning, when Haney – who so clearly had struggled to make weight for his rematch with Kambosos Jr – looked healthy at 134.9lbs, and Lomachenko weighed 135lbs. Much of the build-up to their fight has surrounded the significant size advantage held by Haney. It is close to unheard of for the champion not to be presented with every possible opportunity to defend his titles, but for him to have almost 36 hours to rehydrate, as a fighter widely recognised as destined for 140lbs against another at his best at super featherweight, seems unjust. It came as little surprise when a member of Lomachenko’s team expressed their frustrations to ProBox TV.
Haney, whose body carried the traces of cupping therapy – used to help with pain, inflammation, blood flow, relaxation, well-being and as a form of deep-tissue massage – as expected looked considerably bigger than his challenger. That he then so aggressively – and uncharacteristically – got into Lomachenko’s face and shoved him at their face-off potentially betrayed his nerves.
That he had already made weight hours earlier would have taken the edge off of whatever struggles he had previously had to make the scales. That Lomachenko simply smiled at him while Haney was in his face may also have frustrated him; the shove certainly didn’t come across as pre-meditated. Is it unthinkable that having so confidently started chasing Lomachenko four years ago, the day before fighting such a decorated opponent he is more aware than ever of the potential risks?
Saturday’s fight, and indeed perhaps Haney himself, will reveal much about how tough he found it to again make 135lbs. His appearance at the weigh-in, regardless, suggests there should be no urgency for him to move up.
