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Vasyl Lomachenko Accuses Referee of Helping Devin Haney Against Jorge Linares
WBC Lightweight Champion Devin Haney faced perhaps the toughest career challenge in Jorge Linares on May 29. The 22-year-old edged past the Venezuelan veteran via a Unanimous Decision. However, boxing experts have been critical of his performance. One such expert is none other than the former unified lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko.
In a recent interview, the Ukrainian lightweight broke down the 22-year-old’s performance.
Thank you GOD For the victory! 26-0#ANDSTILL
— Devin Haney (@Realdevinhaney) May 30, 2021
“It was a very good fight. He showed us his skill. He’s a very smart boxer. But he had a problem end of the fight. The last three rounds was very hard for him. It’s not looks easy for Haney. But nobody knows what happen if Linares catches him one more time,” he said.
‘Loma’ further questioned Haney’s durability regarding his last performance. Though ‘The Dream’ cruised through most of the fight, he faced adversity in the final three rounds of the bout. As the young champion came out aggressive in round 9, Linares had some openings to claw his way back into the fight. In round 10, he wobbled Haney.
ALSO READ: Devin Haney Overcomes Adversity to Defeat Jorge Linares
Haney had to stall the action after that, initiating clinch after clinch to subdue the former champ. The excessive clinching was what drew the major criticism from ‘Loma’. Vasyl Lomachenko questioned whether the referee should have deducted a point from ‘The Dream’ for the same.
“I think the referee helped him a little bit. Because Haney always held in the last three rounds. If the referee take a point from Haney for holding, I think it would be another picture. He won this fight, no question,” he said.
Vasyl Lomachenko shoots down comparisons of Devin Haney’s performance against Linares to his
‘Loma’ further recounted his own experience with Linares in retrospect during the interview. The Ukrainian could TKO ‘The Last Samurai‘ in their legendary bout to capture the WBA and the Ring titles in 2018. He was, however, also rocked in the fight as Linares floored him with a straight right.
“I didn’t feel that I was disbalanced. I get up, I feel good and I was ready to continue the fight,” he said.
The former unified lightweight champion feels that he fought Jorge Linares when he was in his prime. However, he shot down any comparisons between his performance to Haney’s.
He said, “It was three years ago, and I fought Linares with almost one hand because I had a problem with my shoulder in the second round.”
“In my opinion, there is nothing to compare between Haney vs Linares and my fight against Linares. It doesn’t mean anything to me because the time we fought Linares was different. When I fought Linares, he was in his prime. He was at the top back then,” he said.
Lomachenko fights Masayoshi Nakatani on June 26. Would a win against Nakatani lead to a shot at Teofimo Lopez? Let us know.
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