Vasyl Lomachenko v Devin Haney

[Ron Swanson]

So much is being made of size difference understandably. Both are clearly facing different directions with point in careers. But I cannot get away from a big picture, just don't know the actual depth of Haney based on a George Kambosos. Just how aggressive is Haney going to level up and commit to some power work. It'll take it to neutralize the tighter quicker footwork of Loma up close. I think Lomas best chance is using that squat stance and can actually get a lot done on the inside. Can't see this being a jousting contest. Whole different fight if Haney commits to getting physical, shoulder blocks twist clinching etc. That's the size difference..

For me it’s all about if Haney can force Loma to keep resetting. I don’t think anyone in the sport uses more false steps than Loma. I’m watching Loma vs Campbell right now and just out of curiosity I counted his cross steps in the 5th round. 35! That’s 35 occasions which he can’t attack and can be forced to reset. That isn’t even considering how often he rhythm steps, which is even more often. If Haney can keep him resetting on all his false steps the fight is easy. But does Haney have that much skill? He has the speed of hand and foot, so it’s really just a question of skill. They were really smart about generally putting Loma against guys with slow feet to exaggerate Loma. (I don’t say this to bash, just more as a matter of fact. It’s 78 degrees outside and they matched Loma well,,,,, while hard) I have my doubts about Haney but Saturday night he could lift a lot of them.

Edit-and the size, Loma fought Campbell, bigger, Nakatani, bigger, Lopez, bigger. Never mentioned it before, it’s a bad look to mention it now

Edit 2-I think Loma has gotten away with many bad habits by being so damn good. You would never teach someone to fight like Ali, or Roy Jones, the greats get away with doing the wrong things. Switched up to Loma vs Teo, still the same thing, loads of false steps. He takes less false steps when he gets aggressive but he can be taken out of his aggression if he’s uncomfortable preparing for it. Drop the hammer when his feet are wrong, it’s often

Into 3rd round of Teo/Loma and Loma just rhythm stepped and Teo charged getting off a combination. Teo saw it, and again Loma rhythm stepped at the ropes and Teo got off a combination.