Devin Haney vs. Vasiliy Lomachenko, billed as Checkmate, was a professional boxing match contested in the lightweight division between the undisputed champion, Devin Haney, and former three-division world champion, Vasiliy Lomachenko. The bout took place on 20 May 2023 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight ended in a controversial unanimous decision win for Haney.
Background
On 19 August 2019, Lomachenko defeated Luke Campbell and won the vacant WBC title, despite holding and defending belts with other sanctioning bodies. Just two weeks after this, Devin Haney defeated Zaur Abdullaev and won the WBC interim title, thus becoming the WBC mandatory challenger. Lomachenko opted to be named the WBC "franchise champion" and Haney was elevated from interim to world champion. This prompted Haney to accuse Lomachenko of "ducking" him.
On 27 March 2022, Haney struck a deal with unified lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr to fight for the undisputed championship. Lomachenko declined to fight Kambosos, opting to stay and fight for his country after Russia invaded Ukraine. Haney would defeat Kambosos to become the first undisputed lightweight champion since Pernell Whitaker. He would retain his titles by defeating Kambosos in a rematch that took place on 16 October 2022.
Discussions for the fight with Lomachenko began immediately after the Kambosos fight. Haney, a practicing Muslim, indicated that he preferred the fight to take place before March, so as to not conflict with Ramadan. He also accused his promoter Top Rank of favoritism towards Lomachenko, claiming that Top Rank and Lomachenko's management wanted the fight pushed to May to force him to stay weight-drained for longer. Eventually, a deal was struck for a fight at the MGM Grand on May 20.
Official scorecards
Fight card
Broadcasting
Aftermath
After the event, Haney was fined $25,000 for violently shoving Lomachenko during the weigh-in faceoffs.