Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Jezreel Corrales likely for April 8

By Boxing News - 01/18/2017 - Comments

Image: Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Jezreel Corrales likely for April 8

By Eric Baldwin: The working date for the unification fight between WBO super featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko and WBA champion Jezreel Corrales is April 8, according to Top Rank president Todd duBoef. The fight will be televised on HBO. The deal still hasn’t been officially made for the Lomachenko-Corrales fight, but it’s expected to be.

Corrales wasn’t the first choice for Lomachenko. He was interested in facing Orlando Salido to try and avenge his loss to him from 2014. Salido chose not to take the fight. It’s unclear what led to him turning I down, but it might have had to do with money. Salido is going to be facing WBC super featherweight champion Francisco Vargas in a rematch, and he’ll make good money fighting him again.Those two fought to an exciting 12 round draw last year.

It would make things easier for Top Rank to get opponents for Lomachenko to fight if they offered a lot of money. The top fighters in boxing aren’t going to fight Lomachenko if the fight isn’t going to be a huge payday for them. There’s too much risk involved, and he doesn’t have a stationary style that makes him hittable.

The style is not a good one for a lot of the top fighters. That’s a positive a negative for Lomachenko and Top Rank. It’s good that the top guys respect Lomachenko, but it’s ultimately bad that they’re not going to fight him unless there’s a ton of money involved. Top Rank will likely need to overpay the best before they’ll agree to fight Lomachenko.

If they can’t get fights for him, then he’ll wind up aging as he defends his titles against the largely little known contenders in the super featherweight division. Casual boxing fans likely aren’t even familiar with the well-known fighters in that division. Only the hardcore boxing fans know about the names of the super featherweights.

Lomachenko isn’t a well-known fighter either in the U.S with the casual fans. Top Rank rank wants to turn him into a star, but they’re going to need to move him up in weight and put him in with the likes of Manny Pacquiao for that to happen. A fight between Lomachenko and Jezreel Corrales won’t do much for increasing Lomachenko’s popularity. It doesn’t matter that Corrales is a world champion. Being a champion doesn’t mean as much now as it used to due to the divisions being watered down with multiple champions.

“We’re looking for Lomachenko in April, most likely the eighth,” duBoef said to RingTV.com. “Largely what we’re seeing from the Eastern European fighters, the guys with the high pedigrees in the amateurs, they’re title collectors. They want the belts because what else is there for them? He had 360 amateur fights and won everything. He has this invincibility. People don’t want to fight him. There’s a fear factor because he has a very difficult style.”