For the first time in his professional career, Vasiliy Lomachenko is an underdog. And Devin Haney is hungering to let people know that the oddsmakers know exactly what they’re talking about. Here’s everything you need to know about Devin Haney vs. Vasiliy Lomachenko, including the odds, their records and a prediction on who will win.

There’s not much doubt that Lomachenko is no longer at his absolute peak. Haney, the undisputed lightweight champion, probably is. And that’s what could give Lomachenko such a difficult time. Haney is a superb tactician, and though he doesn’t have many flaws, it’ll be fascinating to see if Lomachenko can exploit his most glaring issue.

Haney’s chin has been, at least a few times during his career, a little shaky. Lomachenko has good power.

And while Lomachenko, whose best weight is probably 130 pounds, still has solid but not overwhelming punching power at lightweight (he’s stopped three of his seven opponents at 135 pounds), does he have the kind of punch to stop Haney, who’s a big lightweight and who is supposedly moving to 140 pounds in his next fight? What if Haney comes in so weight drained that he doesn’t have the energy to fend off Lomachenko?

Haney vs. Lomachenko is an intriguing matchup, but still, it makes plenty of sense that Haney is the favorite.

“I'm going to put on a dominant victory,” he said. “I'm going to go in there and impose my will on Loma and show the world how great Devin Haney really is, how versatile, how strong, how young, and how experienced I am in that ring.”

Haney is coming off some of his best career performances, going on the road to dominate George Kambosos in back-to-back fights in Australia. But Haney knows how much more difficult Lomachenko could be to fight.

“He has experience and ring generalship,” Haney said. “I know he’s training for a dirty fight. He wants to get in and get as dirty as possible in the clinch. That’s what I’ve heard that he’s training for. We’re just preparing for whatever he brings to the table. We know the type of fight that he wants.”

If Lomachenko was in his prime, this could be an extraordinarily interesting matchup, and I’d likely make him the favorite vs. Haney. But Lomachenko hasn’t looked as dominant as the Loma of old in his last couple of fights, so it seems like it would take an overwhelming performance from him (perhaps the last great one of his career) to pull off the upset.

“I believe that when you say something, you need to prove it,” Lomachenko said. “I have a lot of experience in boxing, and anything can happen during a fight."

Here’s more info on the Devin Haney vs. Vasiliy Lomachenko showdown that U.S. viewers can watch on ESPN+ PPV for $59.99 beginning at 10 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Haney started off as a solid betting favorite, and the money has continued to come in on him. As of Friday, Haney is a -280 favorite (bet $280 to win $100), while Lomachenko is the +250 underdog (win $250 on a $100 wager). A few days ago, Haney was -250 and Lomachenko was +205, so apparently, people think Haney is worth betting. I’d ignore his money line and go with Haney by decision at -175. If you like Lomachenko, I’d probably take him to win by stoppage at +750 rather than a win by judge’s scorecards at +375.

If you were looking for a fun parlay for this weekend’s action of boxing (and this is only for entertainment purposes), I might take Haney to win at -280, Katie Taylor to beat Chantelle Cameron at -200 and Oscar Valdez to stop Adam Lopez at -175. If all those hit, you’d earn a $220 profit on a $100 bet.

Though Haney (29-0, 15 KOs) is coming off his biggest victories, he still doesn’t have a win against the best of the best. Lomachenko, even if he’s not what he once was, would provide that. Haney also has victories against Jorge Linares and JoJo Diaz, but he hasn’t scored a stoppage victory since 2019.

Lomachenko (17-2, 11 KOs) was once the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world (I still have him at No. 7). But after losing to Teofimo Lopez in 2020, he’s looked fine but not Lomachenko-like in dispatching Richard Commey and Jamaine Ortiz. He certainly doesn’t appear to be as good as he was when he was beating undefeated fighters like Gary Russell Jr., Nicholas Walters and Guillermo Rigondeaux.

If Lomachenko has the energy where he can start fast and be active for the entire fight, he’ll have a good chance to win. But, as we saw vs. Teofimo Lopez, it took him more than half the fight to really engage with his opponent, and it cost him. At this point, I think Lomachenko is just a little too old to beat an excellent Haney. Say Haney by decision, somewhere in the 116-112 range.