From one major lightweight fight to another. 

While May won’t bring the same riches in the division that Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia did, it carries significant in-ring stakes and a bit of extended history. It’s a showdown several years in the making:

  • 05/20: 135 - World Champion Devin Haney (29-0, 15 KO, WBA/WBC/IBF/WBO) vs. TBRB #2 Vasyl Lomachenko (17-2, 11 KO)

In the year and change between his win over Luke Campbell for a vacant WBC belt and his unification loss to Teofimo Lopez, Vasyl Lomachenko was staring down the barrel at a WBC mandatory. Top Rank clearly had designs on Lomachenko-Lopez. Lomachenko wound up ‘elevated’ to the WBC’s franchise tag while the WBC mandatory was left with their interim belt elevated to a confusing “he’s the champ, no Lomachenko is the champ” status.

The odd man out there was Haney. Now the shoe is on the other foot and Haney is fighting to be a franchise where it matters. There’s no question about the rightful WBC titlist anymore. Haney has all the straps and Lomachenko is attempting to regain his place near the top of the sport. 

Haney is younger, taller, and longer but also clearly fighting as hard outside the ring to make weight as he is to win. Is this Haney’s farewell to lightweight? Conversely, Lomachenko struggled in the loss to Lopez and in a narrow win last out over Jamaine Ortiz. Is age catching up or will the motivation of the moment give fans the best Lomachenko they’ve seen in a few years? 

Happening in such close proximity to Davis-Garcia, there is no avoiding the question of whether the winner of Haney-Lomachenko will face Davis in the near future. Lightweight can’t deliver anything bigger, but that’s later. Haney-Lomachenko is one hell of a fight for now.

It’s not the only great match on May 20th.

Champions Collide

2022 gave the sport the biggest women’s fight of all time when undisputed world lightweight champion Katie Taylor defeated Amanda Serrano at Madison Square Garden. The planned sequel was scheduled and then put off, leaving Taylor a place on her dance card. She found a hell of a dance partner and they have a strong support bout to go with it.

  • 05/20: 140 - World Champion Chantelle Cameron (17-0, 8 KO, WBA/WBC/IBF/WBO) vs. Katie Taylor (22-0, 6 KO)
  • 05/20: 154 - Terri Harper (13-1-1, 6 KO, WBA) vs. Cecilia Braekhus (37-2, 9 KO)

Taylor will attempt to win all the gold in her second weight class, after previously winning a single belt in the class. The UK’s Cameron will come into the lioness’s den in Dublin. Expect this to be a rocking crowd. Cameron is coming off a defense over undisputed welterweight champion Jessica McCaskill. A win over Taylor could redefine the pound-for-pound impressions of the women’s game.

This is a fantastic fight. The support will see Harper try to hold off the former welterweight queen Braekhus in a critical fight for the challenger. At 41, can Braekhus afford another loss? 

This isn’t the only big action of the month featuring UK names.

Alvarez Returns

There are some great challenges out there for Saul Alvarez, from a rematch with conqueror Dmitrii Bivol to a defense against his leading contender, David Benavidez. Before any of that takes place, Alvarez is going home to Mexico with a challenge from a UK veteran.

  • 05/06: 168 - World Champion Saul Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KO, WBA/WBC/IBF/WBO) vs. #5 John Ryder (32-5, 18 KO)

This isn’t a fight universally hailed but it is, oddly, a fight we could have seen a couple years ago. Many viewers felt Ryder did enough to defeat Callum Smith in 2019. If he had, it could have been Ryder who faced Alvarez as the superstar sought his title collection at super middleweight. Ryder has been stopped only once and has the chance of a lifetime here.

The most likely scenario is an Alvarez win that gets the wheels turning toward bigger fights later in the year.

Additional Title Fights in May

Men

05/06: 112 - #9 Julio Cesar Martinez (19-2, 14 KO, WBC) vs. Ronal Batista (15-2, 9 KO)

05/13: 160 - #5 Zhanibek Alimkhanuly (13-0, 8 KO, WBO) vs. Steven Butler (32-3-1, 26 KO)

05/13: 118 - #2 Jason Moloney (25-2, 19 KO) vs. #4 Vincent Astrolabio (18-3, 13 KO); vacant WBO

05/27: 200 - #2 Lawrence Okolie (19-0, 14 KO, WBO) vs. #6 Chris Billam-Smith (17-1, 12 KO)

05/27: 126 - #1 Mauricio Lara (26-2-1, 19 KO, WBA) vs. #6 Leigh Wood (26-3, 16 KO)

05/27: 126 - #4 Luis Alberto Lopez (27-2, 15 KO, IBF) vs. Michael Conlan (18-1, 9 KO)

Women

N/A

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, a member of the International Boxing Research Organization, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.