Despite reports that Luke Campbell and Devin Haney were all bet set to fight for the WBC’s vacant lightweight title, the sanctioning body announced today that they had accepted a petition from WBO/WBA champion Vasiliy Lomachenko to face Campbell for the belt. Haney has been ordered to take part in a four-man tournament with Javier Fortuna, Zaur Abdullaev, and Teofimo Lopez to determine the winner’s next mandatory.
Lomachenko (13-1, 10 KO) was targeting newly crowned IBF champion Richard Commey before the Ghanaian suffered a knuckle injury, leaving “Hi-Tech” to take out mandatory challenger Anthony Crolla last month. Commey intends to make a voluntary defense in June, thus giving Lomachenko time to face Campbell (20-2, 16) in an excellent clash of Olympic gold medalists before a potential four-belt unification.
The first round of the tournament will see Haney (21-0, 13 KO) face Abdullaev (11-0, 7 KO) and Lopez (13-0, 11 KO) fight Fortuna (34-2-1, 23 KO) if everything goes well.
Source: Badlefthook.com