By Keith Idec

Eddie Hearn can’t confidently say when Devin Haney would get his WBC lightweight title shot if Haney and Vasiliy Lomachenko win their upcoming fights.

But if Luke Campbell can upset Lomachenko on August 31 and Haney defeats Zaur Abdullaev on September 13, Hearn will make a Campbell-Haney fight for December. The British promoter discussed his plan on a conference call Thursday to promote the bout between Las Vegas’ Haney (22-0, 14 KOs) and Russia’s Abdullaev (11-0, 7 KOs), a WBC 135-pound elimination match that’ll take place in The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“The reason that we take this fight,” Hearn explained, “even though there is a little bit of uncertainty, as to when [Haney] would get that world title shot, I think the pressure that you can apply publicly, politically, to say, ‘Look, we’ve won the eliminator. We want the winner of Lomachenko-Campbell.’ I mean, if all goes well, our guy, Luke Campbell, will beat Lomachenko and he’ll fight Devin Haney in December. That’s a dream scenario for us. You know, obviously Lomachenko’s the favorite in that fight, and if Lomachenko was to win, we will get the megaphone out and we will make sure that the whole America demands to see that fight. That’s how you get fights made.”

Hearn is convinced that the 20-year-old Haney is on his way to becoming a star in the United States, a fighter fans will want to see challenge the Lomachenko-Campbell winner next. Ukraine’s Lomachenko (13-1, 10 KOs) and England’s Campbell (20-2, 16 KOs) will fight for Lomachenko’s WBA and WBO lightweight titles and the unclaimed WBC championship three weeks from Saturday night at O2 Arena in London.

If Lomachenko wins, his promoter, Bob Arum, wants to match the three-division champion against the winner of a fight later this year that’ll pit IBF lightweight champ Richard Commey (29-2, 26 KOs) against Teofimo Lopez (14-0, 11 KOs). A Lomachenko-Commey/Lopez fight could come before Haney could get what would be a mandatory shot at Lomachenko because it would be a title unification fight.

Campbell-Haney would be easier to put together sooner because Hearn’s company, Matchroom Boxing, promotes Campbell and Haney.

“I believe that Devin Haney’s profile is rising and rising, and people are gonna watch him time and time again,” Hearn said. “And if he can beat Abdullaev, the world is gonna wanna see Devin Haney fight the winner of Luke Campbell and Lomachenko. They’re not gonna wanna see Teofimo Lopez-Richard Commey. They’re not gonna wanna see the winner of that fight fight the winner of that fight. They’re gonna wanna watch Devin Haney box the winner of that fight. And it’s our job to make sure that we apply the pressure. But it’s not looking past Abdullaev, because it’s a tough, tough fight. But also knowing that we must get that 135-pound world title shot within the next six months.”

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