LAS VEGAS – Devin Haney has plenty of financial incentive to squeeze down to the lightweight limit one more time if he beats Vasiliy Lomachenko on Saturday night at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Haney’s weight cut for their 12-round, 135-pound championship match has been more tolerable than usual because he has used his nutritionist, James Lockwood, for eight weeks during this training camp. Those aren’t the numbers that might matter most to Haney, however, because the undefeated, undisputed lightweight champion admits that the “money fights” for him remain in the division in which he owns the IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO belts.
“That’s where the money is, that’s where the legacy fights is,” Haney told BoxingScene.com. “I would love to stay there as much as possible, but it all depend on May 20th and how I feel, how easy it is for me to make the weight, how I look and whatnot. And then we’ll go from there.
“But like I said, since I was 18 years old, I’ve been calling out these top guys for a while now. I’m never ducking and dodging nobody. I wanna make the biggest fights out there. I’m truly a throwback fighter. And all of these fights will come to fruition sooner or later.”
The 24-year-old Haney mentioned Gervonta Davis and Shakur Stevenson as the two top opponents that could convince him to remain a lightweight if he can get past Ukraine’s Lomachenko.
Haney’s three-fight promotional contract with Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. and DiBella Entertainment expires after the Lomachenko fight. Stevenson (20-0, 10 KOs), a two-weight world champion and one of boxing’s best pound-for-pound, also is promoted by Top Rank.
Haney went out of his way to praise Top Rank during a press conference Wednesday and indicated he would be willing to discuss another contract with the company.
Davis, meanwhile, is affiliated with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions. Haney’s impending promotional free agency would allow him to battle Baltimore’s Davis (29-0, 27 KOs), who is one of boxing’s biggest stars, without any business conflicts.
“There’s good fights at 135 and I wanna make the biggest fights,” Haney said. “Shakur is one of the names on the list. Tank [Davis] is one of the names on the list. And truthfully, those are probably the only fights that I would even stay at 135 for because other fights just wouldn’t even make sense.”
Re-signing with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing is an obvious option for Haney as well. Matchroom promoted each of Haney’s six bouts before he signed a three-fight contract with Top Rank and DiBella Entertainment in March 2022.
Matchroom primarily could offer potential opponents for Haney in the 140-pound division. Haney envisions eventually competing in the welterweight division, too.
“You know, this is my first weight class in boxing,” Haney said. “There’s many more weight classes for me to conquer. And these guys that are my competitors, people who are at the weight class and who will be at the weight class, it’s their second and third weight class. This is still my first. I’ve been at 135 since I was 15 years old.
“So, we’ve just gotta see how I feel. I’m not ruling it out, but not putting any stock on it. I would love to stay at 135. That’s where the money is. That’s where all the money is. So, of course, I wanna make the legacy fights. I wanna make the money. But we’ve just gotta wait and see.”
The 35-year-old Lomachenko is 7-1 in lightweight bouts and clearly the most accomplished, complicated opponent of Haney’s seven-year professional career. The taller, younger Haney (29-0, 15 KOs), of Henderson, Nevada, is still more than a 2-1 favorite over Lomachenko (17-2, 11 KOs), according to most sportsbooks.
Haney-Lomachenko will headline a three-bout ESPN Pay-Per-View show scheduled to start at 10 p.m. EDT and 7 p.m. PDT ($59.99).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.