Arum says Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Nicholas Walters is done!

By Boxing News - 02/13/2016 - Comments

arum4By Tim Fletcher: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says a fight between WBO featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko (5-1, 3 KOs) and former WBA Super World featherweight champion Nicholas “Axe Man” Walters (26-0-1, 21 KOs) is done, and he’s now just looking for a network to televise the fight.

It’s hard to imagine HBO turning down such a great fight like this. Walters, 30, lost his WBA 126lb title last year in June 2015, when he came in one-pound overweight for his title defense against Miguel Marriaga. Walters still easily won the fight by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision, but he lost his WBA title due to him coming in overweight.

“I think he’s [Oscar Valdez] waiting first for Lomachenko to go up to 130. Nobody wants to fight Lomachenko, and I don’t blame them,” Arum said to Fighthype. “The fights [Lomachenko vs. Walters] made. I’m just looking for a network to televise it.”

When asked when he thinks the Lomachenko-Walters fight will take place, Arum said “As soon as we get a network to televise it.”

Lomachenko, 27, is coming off of an 10th round knockout win last November over Romulo Koasicha. This was the third successful title defense for Lomachenko of his WBO title that he won in June of 2014 in beating Gary Russell Jr. by a 12 round decision.

Since winning that fight, Lomachenko has beaten Gamalier Rodriguez, Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo and Romulo Koasicha. Lomachenko’s only loss of his career came at the hands of the bigger Orlando Salido in March 2014. Salido came in over the featherweight limit at 128¼, and he rehydrated a great deal of weight and had a considerable size advantage over Lomachenko in that fight.

Walters and Lomachenko were on course to face each other in 2015, but the fight couldn’t happen when Walters lost his WBA title when he failed to make weight. Since then, Walters was held to a controversial 10 round draw against Jason Sosa last December at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino, Verona, in New York, USA. Many boxing fans thought that Walters had done more than enough to win the fight, but the judges felt differently.

Walters made the mistake of standing in the pocket and slugging with a guy with a great chin, a high work rate and excellent punching power of his own. It wasn’t until late in the fight that Walters started using his boxing skills, and that was when he started to dominate the action.

Lomachenko vs. Walters could be a 50-50 fight. It depends on what kind of style Walters brings to the fight. If he tries to slug with Lomachenko, he could find himself getting out-boxed.



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