Derek Chisora personally gave Devin Haney advice ahead of his highly anticipated but unannounced title defense against Vasily Lomachenko
‘Dream’ won all the lightweight belts by defeating George Kambosos Jr in Australia and did the same thing again in the instant rematch – even more convincing at the time.
Veteran heavyweight was asked by seconds out the first one wins, and he points to the man to his right, Haney.
“My brother [Haney.] I’ve seen this guy come to Australia, twice, haven’t I? And on top of that, they try to mess up his whole camp by saying that his dad can’t go, and I think he’s going to freak out about that.
You know what happened? God is taking care of him. He just got on the plane, he went there, got rid of him, turned around, got back, handled him, turned around, and he’s still sitting there holding his head saying ‘what happened?’”
However, not many people put Kambosos on the same level as Lomachenko.
The Ukrainian is one of the most successful amateur boxers of all time with only one reported loss – for which he avenged – and was the unifying champion of the tournament before his surprise loss to Teofimo Lopez.
However, Chisora believes Haney can get the job done if he doesn’t try to impress the crowd and focus on his stellar stab.
“The way he beat his ultimate opponents. Smarter than them. This young man here, he’s not fighting for the crowd. He’s smarter [his opponents.] Every time they come in, he sets it up – eat that. You come out – eat. And every time he wanted to come in, he would come in – eat the jab.
“That worked for him. Jab. When he’s open to the stab, then everything else comes together. However, most fighters want to join and start placing five combinations [together] before they set up the first stab.
Haney agrees that ‘everything starts with a stab.’
Recently, at the press conference of Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury in Saudi Arabia, the undisputed young champion says that the match against Lomachenko will take place on May 20 and this Middle Eastern country is a potential host country.
The match will see Haney fight in the Top Division for the third time in his two Kambosos matches, and is undoubtedly the toughest test of his undefeated career to date.
