Vasyl Lomachenko’s side to appeal ‘biggest robbery’ after controversial Devin Haney loss

Lomachenko’s manager, Egis Klimas, was infuriated by his fighter’s unanimous decision loss in a hotly contested undisputed lightweight title fight in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

Although he entered the fight as a clear underdog against the taller, taller and more powerful defending champion, the Ukrainian nevertheless delivered a formidable performance in an engrossing tactical battle in front of a heavily pro-Lomachenko crowd. at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, making life extremely difficult for Haney throughout.

Lomachenko arguably outplayed his rival, landing more punches and certainly the most eye-catching punches, injuring Haney in round 11. However, the American closed crucially strong to edge out two scorecards 115-113, l other judge at ringside scoring the fight 116 -112 in favor of Haney.

The result was met with heavy boos from the audience inside the venue, with other lightweight contenders such as Shakur Stevenson and Ryan Garcia among those boxers to publicly state that they believed Lomachenko had won the contest.

It’s a view certainly shared by Lomachenko’s manager, Klimas, who told a post-fight press conference: “I’ll tell it like it is – that’s the most big flight in the middle of the day.

“For the other team, Christmas came in the summer. We are not going to let go. I guarantee we will protest, I guarantee we will appeal this decision.

“Because somebody’s got to end this injustice. Somebody’s got to put boxing where it needs to be. It’s got to be justice.

“These judges, when they scored their crazy scores, they don’t understand how hard fighters work. Get robbed like that? It’s not acceptable.

“I guarantee you we’re not going to let go, we’re going to go all the way to appeal. Maybe we’re not going to win, most likely it will be like that, but we want to show that he has to there be justice.

An emotional Lomachenko broke down in tears backstage after his third career loss, explaining he had thought about his young son’s disappointment.

“I controlled the fight,” he lamented to reporters. “All the fights, I understand that I was winning the fight. So for me it’s a big surprise. 12 rounds and I was sure I won that fight. But that’s what it is.

“I controlled every round. It’s a big, big question what happened in today’s result.

Haney, meanwhile, was confident that his game plan of continuously targeting Lomachenko’s body from the get-go had earned him a deserved win as he remained undefeated and moved to 30-0 as a professional.

“The body work is what got me the fight tonight,” he said. “I knew I had to invest in this body. We watched a lot of tapes on Loma and knew he wasn’t the biggest fan of body shots, so I stuck to the game plan.

“It was breaking him. I felt like he was fighting in spurts. He would have had some good moments in the round, but he wasn’t finishing the round strong. I was definitely convinced that I won the fight.

“I knew it was a close fight, of course he won rounds. I knew it wouldn’t be an easy fight. I had to go through fire to win.