Arum: Nicholas Walters to face Lomachenko if Walters beats Marriaga

By Boxing News - 06/09/2015 - Comments

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By Dan Ambrose: If WBA Super World featherweight champion Nicholas Walters (25-0, 21 KOs) beats undefeated knockout artist Miguel Marriaga (20-0, 18 KOs) in their fight this Saturday night on HBO, Walters will then face WBO featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko in his next bout, according to Bob Arum of Top Rank. He says not going to let the Walters-Lomachenko fight marinate; he’s going to put the fight together.

“I asked Arum about Walters-Lomachenko if Walters wins Sat & if so, when: “Next! Next! Next! No marination.” Looking at Nov. @CarlMoretti,” Dan Rafael said on his Twitter.

I don’t know if I buy what Arum is saying about him letting the Walters vs. Lomachenko fight take place. It’s obviously in Arum and Top Rank’s best interest for boxing fans to be thinking that the Walters vs. Lomachenko fight will come next if Walters defeats Marriaga this Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York. The more people believe that Walters will face Lomachenko, the more people will be tuning in to see Walters’ fight against Marriaga.

Even if Arum is serious about wanting to put Lomachenko in with Walters, the fight still may not happen though because Walters has to win his fight on Saturday and there’s no telling what’s going to happen in that fight. Marriaga has big power and he’s already beaten Walters when the two of them were in the amateur ranks.

Either way, there’s definitely going to be a knockout on Saturday, but I’m not so certain that Walters is going to be the guy that survives this fight. He was badly hurt by Nonito Donaire in his last fight, and if Donaire had turned on the gas a little more in the fight, he might have knocked Walters out. He had Walters hurt in the 2nd round, but the round ran out before he could finish him off.

If Walters doesn’t get Marriaga out of there quickly, we could see a minor upset unfolding. Marriaga has big time power, and he obviously knows how to beat Walters because he did it once before when the two of them were fighting in the amateur ranks. Walters’ Achilles heel is his chin, and Marriaga has the kind of explosive punching power that will put an end to Walters’ three year reign as the WBA featherweight champion.

If Walters does win on Saturday, he’s going to have real problems with Lomachenko because the Ukrainian fighter is very smart, and he’s good at disrupting his opponent’s best strengths. In this case, he’ll take away Walter’s power, and force him to try and out-box him, which obviously Walters isn’t equipped to do.



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