By Chris Williams: WBO World super featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko (6-1, 4 KOs) has until August 11 next month to decide which of his two WBO titles he’ll be keeping. Lomachenko holds the WBO title at featherweight as well as the WBO super featherweight strap. He recently captured the WBO 130lb title last month on June 11 in stopping champion Roman “Rocky” Garcia in the 5th round at Madison Square Garden.
Lomachenko made it clear after the fight that he’s interested in avenging his loss to super featherweight Orlando Salido from 2015. Lomachenko is also interested in facing WBC 130lb champion Francisco Vargas. However, Lomachenko’s manager Egis Klimas says they’re not sure which title they’ll be keeping.
They prefer to fight a champion rather than just a challenger like Salido. They want to take the best fight available to them, be it at featherweight or super featherweight. They’re interested in fighting some of the top featherweights if they can get someone like Gary Russell Jr., Leo Santa Cruz, or Oscar Valdez to fight them.
“We haven’t decided yet,” Egis Klimas said to RingTV.com. “Why should we give away our 126 title and say, ‘Yeah, we’re fighting at 130’ and then all of a sudden we find a good fight for 126? So we’re not in a rush. We have time.”
Lomachenko may have few options for big fights no matter what belt he decides to keep. If he stays at featherweight, then the biggest possible fights for him would be against Oscar Valdez or IBF champion Lee Selby. Those aren’t really big fights, but it’s probably the best that Lomachenko can get at featherweight. Russell Jr. and Santa Cruz are both with Al Haymon, and he’s not likely going to match either of those fighters against someone as difficult to fight as Lomachenko.
It’s match-up for either of those guys against Lomachenko. Haymon’s job is to make the biggest and most winnable fights for his fighters. Lomachenko is fighting at too high of a level right now for it to be a good gamble for Santa Cruz or Russell Jr. to fight him. Russell Jr. already lost to Lomachenko in 2012 in losing a 12 round majority decision.
“We’re not in a rush and I’m talking to (promoter Bob Arum) and I’m seeing what the best direction is for us to go,” said Klimas. “So we’re not going to make a decision just like, ‘Yes, we’re going to stay at 130’ without having a plan.”
At super featherweight, Lomachenko has two possible fights that can get made by his promoter Bob Arum, and those are against Francisco Valdez and Salido. Arum can make definitely make those fights. Other than that, I don’t think he can make a lot of other big fights. Nicholas Walters might be a possibility for Lomachenko if there’s enough money there for that fight.
Lomachenko is going to need to be flexible in moving back and forth between the 16 and 130lb divisions if he wants to get the biggest fights. Due to the politics in boxing, Lomachenko is not going to be able to find the best fights repeatedly in any one division. He’ll probably need to be open to fighting from featherweight all the way to light welterweight if he wants the biggest fights. With him moving upwards in weight to get top fighters that are willing to face him, Lomachenko will fce greater risk of getting beaten again.