LAS VEGAS – Eddie Hearn has been surprised by how much attention the shakiest instance of Devin Haney’s career has received.

Haney’s promoter was impressed with the way Haney recovered from Jorge Linares hurting him just before the end of the 10th round Saturday night. The 22-year-old lightweight champion took a misstep as he headed back to his corner after Linares landed a crushing right hand and a lesser left seconds before the bell rang.

Haney (26-0, 15 KOs) didn’t appear close to going down then, or in the 11th and 12th rounds. Las Vegas’ Haney held a lot during those last two rounds, but the WBC world lightweight champion fought back at times as well.

Regardless, Hearn doesn’t think as much was made of Linares knocking Vasiliy Lomachenko to the canvas in the sixth round of their fight as people are making about Linares hurting Haney.

“I’ve watched it back,” Hearn said during a post-fight press conference Saturday night. “He got hit with a shot, he’s buzzed, he walked to the corner. He was nowhere near falling over or going down. He put his hands on the rope, he sat down on his stool, he took instructions. I was actually watching the replay on the screen. But people don’t talk about when Linares dropped Lomachenko.

“You know, Haney wasn’t dropped. He was buzzed, clearly. But maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe that’ll make people think, ‘Oh, OK, there’s a chink.’ Because otherwise, without that chink, without that 10th round, really, everyone would be sitting here saying, ‘That was a masterclass performance.’ ”

Venezuela’s Linares (47-6, 29 KOs) sent Lomachenko to the canvas after landing a straight right hand late in the seventh round of their May 2018 bout at Madison Square Garden in New York. Lomachenko quickly recovered from that flash knockdown and stopped Linares with a sneaky left to Linares’ body during the 10th round.

Linares was ahead of the three-division champion, 86-84, on one scorecard when Lomachenko knocked him out. Linares trailed 86-84 on another card and was even on the third card, 85-85, though nine rounds.

Haney, meanwhile, was way ahead before Linares’ rally began in the ninth round at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena. Judges Patricia Morse Jarman (116-112) and Steve Weisfeld (116-112) still scored eight rounds apiece for Haney, who won seven rounds according to judge Dave Moretti (115-113).

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