Many were skeptical of Devin Haney’s unanimous decision over Vasiliy Lomachenko, including Shakur Stevenson

Jack Baer
Vasiliy Lomachenko (right) had a great fight. The three people who mattered thought Devin Haney (left) was better. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Vasiliy Lomachenko (right) had a great fight. The three people who mattered thought Devin Haney (left) was better. (AP Photo/John Locher) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The sport of boxing had a good night with a lively fight between undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney and Vasiliy Lomachenko. The scoring of boxing had a less good night.

It might be hyperbole to say Lomachenko was robbed with his unanimous decision loss to Haney, but it was surprising when all three judges turned in wins for the American fighter, especially with one of those scorecards reading 116-112.

Lomachenko was brilliant at times during the fight, and the CompuBox numbers showed him with a slight edge in both punches landed and power punches landed. It was especially lopsided in a 10th round that judge Dave Moretti inexplicably scored 10-9 for Haney.

The reaction was varied but overall unhappy. Some believed Lomachenko had clearly won the fight. Others thought it was closer than a unanimous decision would suggest. Nearly everyone wondered what on Earth Moretti was thinking.

And among the loudest voices was a top potential challenger for Haney. Former super featherweight star Shakur Stevenson, who just made the jump to lightweight, was at the fight in Las Vegas and strongly disagreed with the result in an interview after it was announced:

"Lomachenko should be the undisputed champion. He won. He won that fight. ... He landed the cleaner punches. He landed the cleaner shots on Devin Haney. He pushed the pace."

For his part, Lomachenko mostly avoided protesting the result, though he did say "All people saw what happened today” in his post-fight interview.

Lomachenko's manager, Egis Klimas, however, had some strongwords for reporters:

"We want to show what has to be justice."

“Being robbed like that is unacceptable and I guarantee we’re not gonna let that go.”

Some notable names had similarly strong reactions on Twitter (NSFW language warning):

It was a night all too familiar for boxing fans, in which a great fight became a sore spot for many. It's unclear where both fighters go from here, but it seems the Lomachenko camp might still have some fighting to do in the impending fallout.

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