Another high-profile boxing showcase is set.
Vasiliy Lomachenko and Devin Haney appeared to be in a collision course as early as 2019. Back then, a 20-year-old Haney won an interim WBC lightweight title, making him a natural target for the gold-hunting Ukrainian.
Alas, it was not meant to be.
While The Matrix wanted to unify the belts at lightweight, Haney’s interim title did not appeal much to Lomachenko, who instead chased the regular versions of the different belts. He beat Jorge Linares to win the WBA (super) lightweight title, outclassed José Pedraza to cop the WBO lightweight belt, and outlasted Luke Campbell to secure the then-vacant WBC lightweight strap.
"It should be the goal of every boxer to win the world title and be the champion, not one of four or more. If you want to prove the best of the best, have a tournament and you'll see who comes out," Lomachenko explained to Yahoo! Sports on why he wants to fight only the champions of his division.
Unfortunately for Lomachenko, he could not unify the lightweight belts no thanks to Teófimo López, who upset the decorated Olympian in 2020 to deny him the IBF lightweight title.
All that time, Haney kept building his resumé, winning fight after fight after fight.
Before long, Haney was undeniable, and he staked his claim as among today’s top pound-for-pound fighters in the world by dominating George Kambosos Jr., who had previously beaten López to become the unified kingpin at lightweight.
Now, Haney has all the belts—a feat Lomachenko so badly wants.
He could accomplish it on Sunday, but he will have to be near perfect against arguably the most complete fighter in the lightweight division. The Matrix, though, seems unfazed.
"I feel like I can do the same things I always could," Lmachenko said. "The only real change now is I need time to let my body recover. My body doesn't recover from hard [workouts] as quickly now as it used to. That's really it. Otherwise, I feel good about what I'm able to do in that ring."
Lomachenko will have to do something special in the ring on Sunday. It might be his only chance.