Devin “The Dream” Haney remained undisputed on Saturday night, controversially defeating former three-weight world champion Vasiliy “Loma” Lomachenko (17-3, 11 KOs) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

In a close encounter the general consensus amongst the boxing community was that the Ukrainian had done enough to secure victory but the judges witnessed a different fight to that of the fight fan as they rendered scores of 116-112, 115-113, 115-113 for Haney.

Starting quicker than you would usually expect of Lomachenko he immediately went on the offence whilst trying to bait Haney into a mistake. Haney noticeably the bigger man obliged in meeting the invitation as he connected flush in the second only to be on the receiving end of some quick counters.

Haney was content to fight off the back foot, utilising his jab to keep Loma at bay. The fight started to get a little rough after the fifth, Haney being warned on a couple of occasions for use of his forearm plus hitting behind the head after the break.

Lomachenko was content to back up the champion with combinations, pressing the action. Haney looked to make his size an advantage, trying to fight in close, landing body shots in the hope of slowing down the challenger.

As the fight moving into the championship rounds the momentum seemed to swing in favour of Lomachenko who pushed his dominance with a solid left hand landing flush in the eleventh. Haney was happy to stick and move as the fight result was met with boos from those in attendance after the final bell had sounded.

TopClassBoxing had Lomachenko winning a closely contested fight.

“Lomachenko is a future Hall of Famer,” said Haney afterwards, “He was my toughest opponent by far. He is very crafty, and we put on a great fight for the fans. … He turns it up in the championship rounds. I just have to take my hat off to him.”

Haney said attacking the body was one of the keys to victory.

“The body work won me the fight, so I knew I had to invest in that body, We watched a lot of tape on Loma, he wasn’t the biggest fan of body shots, so we stuck to the game plan, breaking him down.”

Haney added: “He would have some good moments during the round, but he wasn’t finishing the whole round strong because we invested in the body.”

“I don’t want to talk about the decision, all [the] people see what happened here today,” said an emotional Lomachenko, who cried in his locker room afterward before a towel was thrown over his head.

NATATANI KNOCKS OUT MOLONEY IN TWELVE

Former WBO flyweight champion Junto Nakatani (25-0, 19 KOs) captured the vacant WBO flyweight crown with a knock out victory over former world champion Andrew Moloney (25-3, 16 KOs) in the twelfth round.

Andrew was looking to follow his brother Andrew in becoming world champion but faced a potent threat in Nakatani. The Japanese fighter dropped Moloney in the second following a solid uppercut but was hindered in the third after sustaining a cut to his left eye from a clash of heads.

Moloney seemed to have got a foot hold in the contest after the fifth, adapting to the long limbed Nakatani, tying him up whilst working away on the inside.

Nakatani remained a threat, appearing to stagger the Aussie in the ninth whilst a short shot dropped Moloney for the second time in the eleventh. Courageously Moloney got straight back to his feet but in the twelfth was met with an overhand left that put him out for the count.