Lomachenko gave Haney a head start before the fight. Is the Ukrainian sure of victory, or did the American push through his conditions?

Former three-division title holder Vassily Lomachenko and undisputed world lightweight champion Devin Haney have weighed in ahead of the Saturday night fight in Las Vegas. The official weigh-in took place behind closed doors, and the Ukrainian in this aspect provided an advantage to his opponent. We explain why.

Talking about the Lomachenko-Haney fight, we have repeatedly focused on the fact that Devin is significantly superior to Vasily in his anthropometric data. The Ukrainian has risen to his third division, Haney is only preparing to move up in the category and will do so after the fight with Lomachenko. Ukrainians have to gain weight, Americans have to lose weight. Therefore, it is not surprising that Haney entered the limits of the light division only on the second attempt, and the official weigh-in itself took place without the media and spectators.

Moreover, before the fight, Lomachenko gave Haney a head start. It’s about weighing time. The ceremony took place at 09:00 am local time, and Devin received almost 36 hours to recover, rehydrate and return to his usual mass. Experts note that the performance of athletes is significantly reduced if more than two percent of the mass is lost through sweat. In other words, if Haney was cutting weight before the weigh-in, which he most likely was, he got a lot of time to replenish the supply of water in the body and return to his usual conditions.

For example, as noted by boxing columnist Makr Kriegel, the weigh-in of Lomachenko and Lopez was at 2:00 pm before the fight. The official weigh-in ceremony for Vassily and Jemaine Ortiz took place at 3:30 pm on Friday (the fight was around the same time as the scheduled Lomachenko-Haney fight). A difference of five or more hours is very significant for recovery – during this time the battle can be won or lost. Yes, and it is enough to remember how huge Lopez seemed in comparison with Vasily. And Haney is more Teofimo.

It is still unknown why the Ukrainian team took such a step with the weigh-in before the fight with Haney. Either Vasily is so confident in his abilities that he decided not to be distracted by such details. Whether these conditions were pushed by Haney’s team: alas, now it is the side of the American that forms the agenda.