Bob Arum “certainly” considering Devin Haney vs Vasyl Lomachenko

Back in September 2019, Devin Haney clinched the vacant WBC interim lightweight title against Zaur Abdullaev, while Vasyl Lomachenko was the then reigning green and gold champion.

Before the champion and the challenger could square off, in a highly controversial move, Lomachenko was promoted to the WBC “franchise champion”, while Devin Haney became the lightweight titleholder from interim status, and the fight never took place.

Two years later, Bob Arum has revealed his wish to see the fight become a reality, as the CEO and founder of Top Rank says he is considering a sparring contest between Haney and Lomachenko.

Vasyl Lomachenko to earn a chance to regain his WBC belt from Devin Haney, as Bob Arum hints

Since getting promoted from his interim status, Devin Haney has had two successful title defenses against Alfredo Santiago and Yuriorkis Gamboa in November 2019 and November 2020 respectively, winning both bouts via unanimous decision.

Vasyl Lomachenko, on the other hand, lost his “franchise champion” status after losing his WBA (Super) as well as WBO belts against the current unified lightweight champion Teófimo López in October last year.

While Haney prepares to defend his green and gold belt against mandatory contender Jorge Linares on 15th May, a fight which will earn the champion a whopping $3 million in purse.

Meanwhile, Lomachenko has been trading verbal blows with Haney on social media, with the former terming the latter a ‘coward’, in response to Haney raising query on the Ukrainian’s whereabouts.

And Bob Arum believes its the right time to call in a fight between the two.

In a recent interview with Barbershop Conversations, Arum expressed his desire to see Haney pitted against Lomachenko, which he believes will be a ‘good’ contest for the latter.

“Loma vs Haney? That’s a fight we would certainly consider,” the Top Rank chief said, that’d be a really good fight.”

Arum also expressed the idea of seeing the current WBC interim champion Ryan García facing Lomachenko, or even the WBC super featherweight titleholder Óscar Valdez.

“There’s a lot of good fights for Loma… Loma can fight maybe Ryan García,” the 89-year-old promoter went on, “or, if he wants to go down, maybe Óscar Valdez is a great match for Loma.” (H/T BoxingScene)