Devin Haney retains belts in controversial decision over Lomachenko

It was a fight for all the marbles as undefeated and undisputed unified light heavyweight champion Devin Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) took on and defeated his toughest challenge in future hall of famer and former champion Vasiliy Lomachenko (17-2, 11 KOs) by unanimous decision (116-112, 115-113, 115-113). This fight will be riddled in controversy for a long time as many onlookers had Lomachenko winning the fight The fight saw constant momentum swings. Haney was able to get off to a strong start. Haney was able to deliver punches to Lomachenko's body. Despite being known as a jab-focused fighter, Haney relied very little on his jab. The controversy would come during the later rounds. It was clear and obvious Lomchenko won Rounds 10 and 11. Lomachenko stung Haney repeatedly. While Lomachenko appeared to have taken full control of the fight against a fatigued Haney, it was Haney who delivered in Round 12, doing enough to take the fight on all three official scorecards. The Vegas crowd booed loudly as the scorecards were read. Haney’s round 12 was the deciding round for the judges. "Man, Lomachenko is a future Hall of Famer. It was a blessing," Haney said of sharing the ring with his opponent. "I take my hat off to Loma. He's my toughest opponent by far. He's very crafty and we put on a great fight for the fans. ... He's a crafty fighter. He turns it up in the championship rounds. I just gotta take my hat off, he's a great fighter," he added. "It's all experience. We're going to go back, watch the fight, and reflect on it. I've been at 135 a long, long time. I've been at 135 since I was 16 years old. We're gonna go back to the lab and figure out what's next." Most of the boxing world would love to see Shakur Stevenson or Tank Davis challenge for the belts next. Stevenson was ringside and was very unimpressed with Haney’s performance; he felt that Lomachenko won crediting him for landing the cleaner shots. Lomachenko himself seemed to agree with that opinion. Lomachenko refused to address the controversy in the scoring after the fight, instead focusing on getting back to work."I don't want to talk about this," Lomachenko said. "All the people saw what happened today. ... Look, I think I showed I'm in good shape. See you next time. I can't talk about this right now. It's just, it's not a comfortable moment for me." Haney’s trainer and father Bill left with the opinion that there won’t be a rematch as he felt his son won clear and the older Haney also refused to answer questions regarding a Stevenson fight. Stevenson was a lot more vocal "Let's make it happen, I think that should happen next," Stevenson said of wanting to fight Haney. "Devin's not on my level and I'm going to show it."