Terence Crawford came away a bit concerned by Devin Haney’s latest performance.
Twenty-year-old Haney fended off veteran three-division titlist Vasiliy Lomachenko over 12 highly competitive rounds last Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas to remain the undisputed champion of the lightweight division. All three judges turned in scorecards that narrowly favored the Oakland, California-born, Las Vegas-based Haney: 116-112 (Dave Moretti), 115-113 (Tim Cheatham), and 115-113 (David Sutherland).
But the results of the fight prompted widespread suspicion across the sporting world, with many apparently under the belief that Lomachenko deserved to get the nod on the scorecards. Many others took issue, in particular, with the 116-112 scorecard turned in by veteran judge Moretti, who had scored the 10th round—a round that many felt was a dominant one for the Ukrainian challenger—for Haney.
Crawford, the WBO welterweight titlist, had trouble making sense of Moretti’s scorecard as well.
“To me, yes [I was surprised by the scorecards].” Crawford told a group of reporters after the fight. “Devin, that’s my guy, I was rooting for him the whole fight, but 116-112? That’s crazy. That was crazy.
When asked why he felt the scorecards favored Haney, Crawford responded, “I dunno, maybe the body shots that he was throwing. Man, that was crazy.”
Crawford said his perception of Haney has slightly changed after his fight with Lomachenko, saying that he believes that Haney could be in for a “tough” night against a puncher like Gervonta “Tank” Davis. Baltimore’s Davis is coming off a seventh-round stoppage of Ryan Garcia last month at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“I always say Devin beat Tank, ‘nah mean? The way Lomachenko was landing them left hands on Haney, it’s gonna be kind of tough for Haney to win getting hit like that from Tank,” Crawford said. “Styles make fights. You never know.”
Sean Nam is the author of the forthcoming book Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.