By Keith Idec

Eddie Hearn realizes he and Devin Haney have plenty of work to do before Haney-Vasiliy Lomachenko becomes a fight Lomachenko might embrace.

Haney can become the mandatory challenger for Lomachenko’s WBC lightweight title by winning his next fight. That won’t be enough to ensure Haney gets the chance to face one of the best boxers, pound-for-pound, in the sport.

Bob Arum, Lomachenko’s promoter, continues to state that Lomachenko might move back down to 130 pounds after facing the winner of the upcoming battle between IBF lightweight champ Richard Commey (29-2, 26 KOs) and mandatory challenger Teofimo Lopez (14-0, 11 KOs). Commey and Lopez are tentatively scheduled to square off December 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Las Vegas’ Haney has his own fight to win in The Theater at Madison Square Garden a week from Friday night. The 20-year-old Haney (22-0, 14 KOs) and Russia’s Zaur Abdullaev (11-0, 7 KOs) will meet September 13 in a WBC lightweight championship elimination match.

If the favored Haney wins, he’ll immediately begin campaigning for a shot at Ukraine’s Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs), the WBA/WBC/WBO lightweight champ.

“We’ve gotta put the pressure on [Lomachenko],” Hearn told BoxingScene.com after Lomachenko defeated England’s Luke Campbell on Saturday night in London. “What we’ve gotta do is make sure Devin Haney’s a big enough name for that fight to make sense for Lomachenko. You know? But Devin’s not gonna be at 135 forever. He’s 20 years old. And he’s got a really tough fight in two weeks against Abdullaev. I mean, it’s not gonna be an easy fight.

“But we’ll see how he gets on in that. And he’s gonna call Lomachenko’s name. You know, he’s gonna be mandatory for Lomachenko, if he beats [Abdullaev]. So, you’ve gotta call the name, you’ve gotta push for that fight and then, after he’s won the undisputed championship, we’ll see if he takes it.”

If Lomachenko overcomes the Commey-Lopez winner and remains at 135 pounds, Hearn feels he’ll have to grant Haney his title shot or risk getting stripped of the WBC belt he won Saturday night.

“Eventually, he’s got no choice but to vacate [if he doesn’t fight Haney],” Hearn said. “But, you know, we’ll see. Look, Devin’s gotta win in a couple weeks and we’ll go from there.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.