Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Ray Beltran possible for May 12 on ESPN

By Boxing News - 02/14/2018 - Comments

Image: Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Ray Beltran possible for May 12 on ESPN

By Chris Williams: Top Rank boss Bob Arum doesn’t look like he’s going to get his wish to schedule his fighter Vasyl Lomachenko (10-1, 8 KOs) against WBA World lightweight champion Jorge Linares (44-3, 27 KOs) on May 12th on ESPN like they were hoping.

It’s reported that Golden Boy Promotions, who co-promotes the 32-year-old Linares, aren’t on board with letting him face Lomachenko on May 12th due to the fight being on the same night as the Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin vs. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez replay on regular HBO. This will be a replay of the May 5th Canelo-GGG fight on HBO PPV.

The replays bring in huge ratings for HBO, especially for the mega-fights like Canelo vs. Golovkin. If Golden Boy green lighted Linares fighting Lomachenko on May 12th, they would be competing with themselves by having Linares fighting on ESPN against Lomachenko and Canelo-Golovkin taking place on HBO. Arum still plans on having Lomachenko fight on ESPN on May 12th whether it’s Linares or against one of his own Top Rank fighters.

That’s where Raymundo Beltran (34-7-1, 21 KOs) comes in. Beltran is fighting this Saturday night on February 17th against 39-year-old Paulus Moses (40-3, 25 KOs) for the vacant WBO World lightweight title. The 37-year-old Beltran is favored to win this fight against #2 WBO Moses. It’s the perfect situation for #1 WBO Beltran, a decent fighter, to win a world title against a guy that has no business being ranked as high as he is at No.2 by the World Boxing Organization. If the WBO had their heads screwed on straight, they would have a talented lightweight like Luke Campbell or Gervonta Davis ranked #1 or #2 instead of 39-year-old Moses.

Anyway, Beltran is probably going to beat Moses with ease to win the vacant WBO 135 lb. belt. Once Beltran wins the belt, he’ll have the WBO lightweight strap in his possession for a fight against fellow Top Rank fighter Lomachenko on May 12 for ESPN. Top Rank boss Bob Arum would obviously prefer Lomachenko to fight Linares on May 12th, but if that fight can’t happen due to Golden Boy not wanting to hurt their Canelo vs. Golovkin replay ratings on HBO on the same night, then there’s nothing the 86-year-old Arum can do. He isn’t going to give up the May 12th date though for ESPN. Arum will go ahead and likely match Lomachenko against Beltran on that night. Lomachenko will win the WBO lightweight belt and then move on to face WBA 135 lb. champion Linares in a unification fight later this year.

Paulus Moses is from Namibia, the same country as former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Julius Indongo. Moses was beaten by former WBO World lightweight champion Ricky Burns by a 12 round unanimous decision in March 2012. It was an easy win for Burns, who spent much of the fight tying up Moses to prevent him from getting his shots off. Burns outclassed Moses completely in that fight, and it as a dull affair from start to finish. 3 years ago, Moses lost to Malcolm Klassen by a 12 round unanimous decision in March 2015. Since that fight, Moses has won 5 out of his last 6 fights against non-world class opposition.

Beltran lost to Terence Crawford by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision in November 2014. Before that, Betran fought to a controversial 12 round draw against former WBA World lightweight champion Ricky Burns in September 2013. Beltran fought well enough to win, but the judges scored it a draw. Burns suffered a broken jaw in round 2, and he spent most of the fight holding Beltran to keep him from throwing punches. The fight took place in Burns’ hometown of Glasgow, Scotland. Beltran has won his last 5 fights since 2015. His wins have come against Bryant Vazquez, Jonathan Maicelo, Mason Menard, Miguel Angel Mendoza and Ivan Najera.

Linares wants to fight Lomachenko in May, but he’s not going to be able to do that without Golden Boy giving him the green light for the fight. It’s not a situation for Golden Boy to hurt the ratings for the Canelo vs. Golovkin replay on May 12th by letting Linares fight Lomachenko on ESPN. The replay will probably bring in bigger ratings than Lomachenko-Linares anyway. There’s many more boxing fans interested in seeing Canelo vs. Golovkin 2 than watching lightweights go at it. That’s just the way it is. Canelo has a tremendous fan base in the U.S, and Golovkin has a lot of boxing fans as well. Golden Boy has to make sure they don’t hurt the ratings for the Canelo-GGG 2 replay on HBO. Those 2 fighters are like gold when it comes to attracting fans. They’ll likely be fighting each other a third time in 2019 if their fight on May 5th brings in a lot of PPV buys on HBO and if one of them doesn’t get knocked out badly or totally schooled. That could happen. I wouldn’t be surprised if either of these guys gets beaten soundly.

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