Devin Haney is ready to comprehensively "pick apart" Vasyl Lomachenko and show he is better than his rival in every department.
Haney, 24, is putting his WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO titles on the line in Las Vegas on May 20 as he takes on the former three-weight world champion - and he fully expects the fight to be a lot easier than some are predicting. The lightweight told Mirror Fighting : "I think I'm going to be better than Loma in every aspect; faster, stronger, smarter. I think I will show a lot of his flaws that he has in the ring, with me being so big and just so young and athletic."
And Haney is confident an emphatic performance under the lights of Las Vegas' MGM Grand will go a long way to proving he is "the guy" now. He added: "I expect for me to show that I'm just levels above him. Loma was the guy that was number one pound for pound guy at one point, but now, you know, it's time for me to show the world that I'm the guy now."
Haney continued to say it's a fight he has been keen to make for a number of years and feels his Ukrainian counterpart, 35, made a huge mistake in waiting this long to face him. "I've gotten so much better [over the years]," he continued. "I've got much bigger, much more mature, much faster, stronger. My experience has gone through the roof and, more importantly, I'm the guy with the belts now. So my confidence is just through the roof."
While he acknowledged Lomachenko is a very technical fighter, Haney insists the veteran's southpaw stance won't cause him issues and believes it will in fact be the challenger who will be forced to change his style on the night. "I don't think it'll be a problem [his stance]," he said. "We've been training for a southpaw for months now. I started camp a little earlier to prepare, but I've got a lot of experience. I will show the world how I can beat a southpaw. There are many different ways to beat a southpaw but I'll do it a little different."
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Haney continued: "He's had trouble in the past with guys who do the things that I do in the ring. In his last fight he struggled with Jamaine Ortiz and the things he has trouble with are my best attributes." He added that while the pre-fight conversation has been respectful so far, he doesn't care for his opponent and insists he is ready to make the bout "as easy as possible".
While he stopped short of looking passed his upcoming battle - calling it "definitely by far my biggest fight to date" - he said an impressive win will send a huge message to all the other fighters in his division, including Gervonta Davis. When asked for his opinion on his American rival's latest victory against Ryan Garcia, The Dream said Tank "went in there and did what he was supposed to do". But Haney was also quick to state he thought Garcia simply "didn't understand the levels" that were going to be on show.
"Once he realised that Tank was levels above him, you know, he decided he didn't want to be in there anymore," he critiqued before refusing to rule out a potential future bout with either pugilist, saying he is keen on "legacy fights". You never know what the future holds," he admitted. "But, as of right now, I'm focusing on Loma and then we will go from there."
