Devin Haney still in talks to fight Vasiliy Lomachenko but Jorge Linares ‘agreed and ready to go’, reveals Eddie Hearn
DEVIN HANEY is still in talks to fight Vasiliy Lomachenko – but Jorge Linares is ‘agreed and ready to go’ as well, revealed Eddie Hearn.
Haney, who holds the WBC title with Teofimo Lopez ‘Franchise’ champion, was mandated to face Ryan Garcia.
But Garcia, 22, was instead focussing on Manny Pacquiao, 42, or Gervonta Davis, 26, with Hearn forced to look at new opponents.
Linares, 35, has agreed to terms, but after a Twitter dispute between Haney, 22, and Loma, 32, the promoter contacted the Ukrainian’s manager Egis Klimas.
Haney’s dad Bill prefers his son to face Lomachenko, but Hearn warned the Linares fight is most likely next, with a deal already in place.
He told iFL TV: “It took a bit of a U-turn as Lomachenko popped up. Bill Haney phoned me and said, ‘Make the Lomachenko fight’.
“So I reached out, I actually spoke to Egis Klimas, not to make an offer or anything like that, but just to say, ‘I think we’ll make an offer to Top Rank’.
“I’m happy to do that fight, I think it’s a fantastic fight and Devin is more than happy to fight Lomachenko.
“So, if we can agree terms that that would probably be a preferred fight to Linares.
“But if we can’t, Linares is pretty much agreed and ready to go.”
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Lomachenko’s promoter Bob Arum also gave the green light for the pair to fight, but only on their ESPN platform, instead of Haney’s home of DAZN.
But Hearn was quick to fire back and insist the American star is committed long-term.
He said: “I saw Bob’s interview last night where he said, ‘We wouldn’t do that fight on DAZN, so we’ll wait until Devin Haney is a free agent.’
“You’ll be waiting for a long time.”
Haney was once Lomachenko’s mandatory challenger, but the former pound-for-pound king then transitioned to Franchise champ.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist went on to lose in a shock upset against Teofimo Lopez, 23, last October and has not returned since.
Haney’s last fight was against Cuban Yuriorkis Gamboa in December, winning on points.
Linares – who dropped Lomachenko in 2018 but was later KOd – has won his last two fights.
But in 2019 he suffered a disastrous move up to light-welterweight, with Mexican Pablo Cesar Cano winning in one round.