Devin Haney has labelled Vasiliy Lomachenko “delusional” and warned the Ukrainian that he is facing him at the wrong time, ahead of their clash in Las Vegas next month.
Haney defends his undisputed lightweight crown against Lomachenko on May 20 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, live on Sky Sports.
Lomachenko has won three on the bounce since only his second career defeat to Teofimo Lopez, the last being a unanimous decision win over Jamaine Ortiz in October.
Despite losses to Lopez and Orlando Salido, the three-weight world champion recently claimed that he felt undefeated, an assertion which Haney took exception to.
“He’s f***ing delusional,” the 24-year-old told a group of reporters last week.
“He lost not once, but twice.
“Teo beat him clear. The fight with Salido was close, but Teo beat him clear.
“I don’t care what he says. He can say he got an injury or whatever the f*** he wanna say.
“At the end of the day, he came on late in the fight, but you had an injury the whole 12 rounds.
“He went in there, he fought scared and he lost versus Teo.
“He ain’t undefeated. He lost twice. He’s going to lose again on May 20.”
Haney secured the WBA ‘super’, WBC, WBO and IBF 135lb titles after dethroning George Kambosos Jr in June and followed that up with a dominant second victory over the Australian in October.
‘The Dream’ was calling for a fight with Lomachenko in 2019 and feels the 35-year-old has opted to face him at the worst possible moment.
“It’s a blessing [to fight Lomachenko],” he said.
“I’m happy that finally I get my shot at it.
“The tables have turned. It feels good that the tables have turned.
“Now I’m the guy giving him the shot and I’m happy that I get to prove myself.
“I told him to fight me then, because eventually the longer he waits the worse it will get and I think it’s just a very, very bad time for him to fight me.”
