After one of the grimmer weekends in recent boxing history – which feels a bit like saying “it was one of the more violent weekends in Palestine” – it’s nice to have something positive to talk about this week.
The grimness, of course, took the form of the robbery of the (allegedly) 40-year-old Venezuelan journeyman Ismael Barroso, who appears to have gone to the Cuban Department of Birth Certificate Printing. Barroso’s bout with Rolando Romero last weekend was clearly the biggest of his career and, moreover, he was clearly winning the fight through 8 rounds.
However, after Romero finally started to land a few shots that did not appear in any way to trouble Barroso’s chin or stop Barroso from punching back, referee Tony Weeks stepped in and stopped the fight. Weeks robbed Barroso of clearly the biggest win in his career and his chance at far bigger purses in his next couple of bouts.
All that is to say: boxing fans need this weekend.
In Ireland, Katie Taylor will be fighting Chantelle Cameron in her homecoming fight. Win or lose, this event will be a crowning moment for one of the greatest female fighters in the history of the sport, and one of the most popular and accomplished Irish athletes ever.
And stateside (on Sunday morning AEST) we have Devin Haney defending his undisputed lightweight supremacy against Ukrainian southpaw genius Vasyl Lomachenko in a fight that may truly be the best fight in boxing today, albeit not the biggest.
In the ring, these two fighters share some similarities. They are both master boxers who understand and play with timing and rhythm incredibly effectively. Neither fighter has fight-changing power in the mould of a Gervonta Davis and usually get their knockouts by way of accumulation at lightweight (with the exception of Haney’s explosive knockout of Antonio Moran). Finally, neither is at their best at 135 pounds. Haney looks like a skeleton when he makes this weight, appearing deprived of water for at least a week. Loma, on the other hand, was a more effective mover and puncher at junior lightweight.
But their differences are what make this fight so watchable and exciting.
We will start with Lomachenko, the ballerina. That description is not euphemistic, it is literal. At a young age, Lomachenko’s father and trainer enrolled him in traditional Ukrainian dance classes with the intention of teaching his prodigious young fighter how to move his feet.
Boy did that work.
Lomachenko is a two-time Olympic Gold Medallist who boasted an amateur record of 396-1, avenging his only loss twice.
Even at 35, nobody in boxing moves like Lomachenko. He dances in and out of range and in and out of eyeshot extraordinarily. He plays with angles in the way people think that Mike Tyson did, constantly pirouetting and confusing his opponents and then throwing punches from places that nobody else even conceives of attacking from.
He combines defence and attack better than almost any boxer in the sport today. He is one of the rare fighters who can win working off his opponent’s jab. His reflexes are such that he can avoid and counter the jab early in fights, neutering every fighter’s first line of both attack and defence.
He is most comfortable coming forward and working in the pocket where he can abuse opponents with his superior intellect, footwork and reflexes. He can go to the body just as effectively as he can go to the head and this is usually when he is punching to the body that he earns his nickname “The Matrix”(should have been “Billy Belly Hit”, but whatever), looking like Neo as he rips in shots to the breadbasket while simultaneously avoiding his opponents’ counters.
When at full flight, there is nobody better to watch than Vasyl Lomachenko.
The question is, however, whether he is still at full flight.
Lomachenko’s most recent bout against the relatively unknown Jamaine Ortiz was clearly the worst fight of his career, including his two losses.
The context is relevant for the Ortiz fight, however, as Loma was returning from assisting the Ukrainian military in defending his homeland. There is no doubt that Lomachenko had other things on his mind, and perhaps his training camp was not as focused as it otherwise could have been.
For Haney, there is less to say. You can set your watch to his imperious style. In my view, he owns the best jab in boxing, perhaps second only to Canelo Alvarez. Haney’s jab is not necessarily a power jab like Canelo’s, but it is varied and Piston-like. That jab, both to the head and body, stops opponents dead in their tracks.
Haney’s defence is perfect, albeit far less aggressive than Loma’s form of attacking defence. Haney is conservative in some ways, sitting in a defensive shell and looking to jab while letting the fight come to him. As soon as an opponent gets closer than the extremely long Haney would like, he is extremely good at tying up and forcing the referee to reset the fight to a distance that he would prefer it to be at.
While his defence is as good as it gets, however, he is capable of getting rocked as he was by Jorge Linares (who dropped Lomachenko during their bout). Haney himself has conceded that this punch was the result of a loss of concentration but, based on his fights with Kambosos Jr and Jojo Diaz, that flaw in his game seems to be gone.
This is two geniuses, one young and one old, coming together for all the marbles. This is as good as boxing gets.
The key to this fight is Devin Haney’s jab. Everyone knows what Haney’s posture will be to throughout the fight. He will start off defensively, jabbing and clinching whenever Lomachenko gets close enough to make Haney uncomfortable. He will only open up if he smells blood in the water, but he is content jabbing his way to a decision.
The key for Lomachenko will be to start fast, unlike his start against Teofimo Lopez where he was simply unable to catch up after giving up the first 6-7 rounds for no discernible reason. He needs to start the bout walking forward and trying to work off that Haney jab. If Haney can’t use the jab effectively, that will be the first step in Loma’s path to victory.
If Lomachenko can get through the jab, the next key will be to avoid Haney’s clutches which he is better equipped to do than most. His athleticism and ability to work from unorthodox and weird angles should make it harder for Haney to entangle him in the clinch.
In a sense, Loma should try to do the expert version of what Kambosos tried to do in his second fight with Devin Haney. High pressure and volume, and a genuine attempt to ruffle Haney’s usually unrufflable feathers.
Kambosos, of course, is a game and tough fighter but Lomachenko is a savant and should be able to add his signature angular flourishes to that gameplan and make the fight at least more watchable and competitive than the two Haney v Kambosos bouts were.
At the very least, Lomachenko should have more sustained success than any fighter has had previously against Devin Haney, and there is a path to victory if he is able to neutralise the Haney jab.
Regardless, it is hard to beat a fighter as bulletproof as Devin Haney. That is true even for a legend like Vasyl Lomachenko.
Haney by split decision.
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