Shawn Porter thinks Devin Haney was following a script that he and his team put together to sell tickets & entertain the fans when he shoved Vasyl Lomachenko hard during their face-off at the weigh-in on Friday for tonight’s fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
In addition to Haney (29-0, 15 KOs) using the scrip to sell tickets & entertain, Porter thinks he also wanted to “rattle” Lomachenko (17-2, 11 KOs), and in that respect, he failed.
Lomachenko will only temporarily be unsettled, says Porter. When the fight starts, Lomachenko will follow his team’s game plan and will no longer be thinking about the push from Haney.
In Haney’s case, he’s not taking seriously as being one of the best at lightweight because his game is one-dimensional, using a lot of jabbing & holding, and he lacks punching power.
Haney’s success comes from his size and how he neutralizes his opponent’s offense by using tie-ups.
“I wasn’t surprised. There’s a script. ‘Let’s sell these tickets; let’s be entertaining, and let’s send Loma a message, and let’s try and shake this veteran up.’ I personally don’t think it worked,” said Shawn Porter to Fight Hub TV about Devin Haney’s hard push of Vasyl Lomachenko at the weigh-in.
“I think he’s [Lomachenko] going to stay level-headed. I think, at the moment, it may have rattled him, especially with as hard as that push was. I think now he’s kind of ‘Let’s get this young guy out of here.’
“The favorite is Haney. I just think there’s too much on that side. I got it 60-40, 55-45. I think it’s a really good close fight. If we get a superb Lomachenko, we get a good fight, a possible draw. That’s what we want. We all want great fights.
“I don’t know what they’ve [Team Lomachenko] have don to game plan for Devin. I don’t know what their techniques are. There are things you can do to take a jab away from somebody.
“Simply not allowing them to touch your glove. That alone will take a jab away from somebody. It’s difficult for both guys. Don’t forget how skillful Loma has been his entire career.
“Absolutely, 100%,” said Porter when asked if people are overlooking Lomachenko because of how he looked in his last fight against Jamaine Ortiz last October.
“It’s like I always say. You don’t want to look too good for a fight, and you don’t want to look too bad for a fight.
“I think he [Lomachenko] looked bad, but his name gets him this fight again. Of course, with him being right there in line for the belts. But beyond that, you’ve got Haney, whose most recent fight film [in the rematch with George Kambosos Jr] isn’t good fight film.
“So what do you do? Do you look back at what’s best or do you look at what’s now?” said Porter.