Lomachenko interested in Pacquiao fight at 135

By Boxing News - 11/27/2016 - Comments

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By Allan Fox: If Manny Pacquiao wants to fight WBO super featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko, he might need to drop down 12 pounds to face him at lightweight, because that’s the weight class that the Ukrainian fighter is willing to fight him at. Lomachenko says he wants to fight Pacquiao, but he wants the fight to take place at 135lbs.

Being that the 28-year-old Lomachenko isn’t in the position to be calling the shots in terms of weight for the Pacquiao fight, it’ll be interesting to see if his match ever takes place. Lomachenko is not a pay-per-view fighter, and the chances are that he may never get to that level unless he starts picking up more boxing fans.

Pacquiao would be dropping a lot of weight if he’s going to take this fight. Is it worth it for Pacquiao to fight Lomachenko at 135? I don’t think it is. Pacquiao should take the fight at 143. If Lomachenko can’t agree to that weight, then it might not be worth it for Pacquiao to accommodate him with the weight.

Lomachenko stopped former WBA featherweight champion Nicholas Walters in the 7th round last Saturday night in their fight on HBO World Championship Boxing at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Nevada. Walters decided he didn’t want to continue after the 7th round.

When asked if he’d like to fight Pacquiao, Lomachenko said, “I very much respect Manny Pacquiao. I’d be proud if somebody would give me the opportunity to fight Manny Pacquiao.”
Lomachenko was asked what weight he’d be willing to fight Pacquiao, and he said, “Probably 135 is the max, because right now, I came into the ring at 136 pounds.”

If Lomachenko wants the fight with Pacquiao badly enough, he might need to be willing to move up in weight higher than 135. It’ll depend on how hard Pacquiao wants to negotiate. Without Pacquiao having fought at 135 for the past eight years since his fight against David Diaz in 2008, it would put him at a disadvantage to drop down that much weight without experimenting. What Pacquiao doesn’t need is to be put in the same situation Oscar De La Hoya was when he moved down to 147 to fight him in their match in 2008. De La Hoya hadn’t fought at welterweight for seven years since 2001 when he took on Pacquiao at 147 in 2008. In hindsight, it was a foolish thing for De La Hoya to do. If Pacquiao wants to do something similar by moving down in weight to 135 to fight Lomachenko, he could wind up losing just as bad. It’ll be a lot easier for Lomachenko to go up in weight than it’ll be for Pacquiao to drop down. Pacquiao is about to turn 38 in December. He’s not a young fighter anymore. Dropping all that weight to fight a speedy guy that moves around a lot like Lomachenko, it’s a recipe for disaster for Pacquiao.

Lomachenko said this to the boxing media after his win over Walters last Saturday night:
“Why do I have to go to Britain? Why don’t we do it here?” said Lomachenko when asked if he would be willing to fight WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan in the UK. “Come to a neutral site. Mega-boxing is in the United States. I’m ready.”

Lomachenko’s promoter Bob Arum is interested in matching him against WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan after his next fight, which he’d like to be against either Orlando Salido or Francisco Vargas. It’s unclear whether either of those fights will take place. Lomachenko says he wants to think about whether to fight Salido a second time. He’s not sure right now. Vargas is with Golden Boy Promotions, and Arum is skeptical whether they’ll want to make the fight between Vargas and Lomachenko. It’s fight that might not be doable unfortunately. The Flanagan fight would likely be an easy one for Lomachenko. However, the 5’9” Flanagan is a really big fighter, who is more of a welterweight than a lightweight. He rehydrates to 145, and is about as heavy as Pacquiao, but a lot taller. The size might be a problem for Lomachenko if he faces Flanagan. If he agrees to fight Flanagan in the UK, it might be tough for Lomachenko to win unless he totally dominates the match. Lomachenko would be the visitor, and the British boxing fans would be making a great deal of noise each time Flanagan landed something. We saw how middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin had the judges scoring rounds against him recently in his fight against Kell Brook, which appeared to be a pretty one-sided fight in favor or Golovkin.

“I came to the ring and I did what I wanted to do,” said Lomachenko about the Walters fight. “The first round, I was feeling him, touching him, seeing what kind of power he has. After the 4th round, I started dominating him.”

Lomachenko said he was surprised that Walters quit after round 7, because he’d been doing a lot of talking before the fight about being a warrior. Lomachenko thought Walters would fight hard and not give up.

“Yes, of course, I was surprised, because at the beginning he was saying he was a gladiator, a warrior, he’s going to fight, he’s here to hurt people,” said Lomachenko about Walters. “With gladiators, it’s not quitting. He didn’t show that. I want to fight someone that has titles, probably [Francisco] Vargas, WBC; maybe IBF or WBA, someone that’s a champion.”

When asked if he wants to fight Orlando Salido in a rematch, Lomachenko said, “Now I have to think. He was saying he wants to do it, and then he doesn’t want to do it. I can think about that. I don’t believe I’m pound for pound position.

Roy Jones Jr. said this to Fighthype.com about why Walters quit against Lomachenko:
“Him being in the situation he was in, he hadn’t fought in 342 days,” said Jones. “So for him, ‘y’ll put me at a disadvantage. You put me on the shelf; don’t let me fight to keep up with him. So now that I’m not fighting, you want to stick me with the best fighter and it’s kind of crazy. Now I’m at a complete disadvantage. I can’t hit him. He can hit me each time he gets ready. I’m not going to get embarrassed and get knocked out on TV.’”

It’s unknown why Top Rank didn’t give Walters any fights after his 10 round draw last December against Jason Sosa. It was because HBO didn’t have any dates for him to fight, then you would have to suspect that this could happen again in the future unless HBO gets an expanded budget for boxing.

Kellerman said this to fighthype.com about his thoughts on Lomachenko-Walters:

“It’s a brutal sport,” said Kellerman. “So if you don’t have that in you, how can you be a truly great fighter, because there will come a time when you will be pushed where it seems like you can’t win. Great fighters want to continue to push on. Walters didn’t tonight. It also speaks volumes to Lomachenko that he can take Gary Russell Jr. and reduce him to where he’s looking like a novice. He dominated that entire fight, Lomachenko. He then takes Walters and makes him quit, wins every round. He does what he pleases and makes him quit. Lomachenko, it seems to me, is operating at a higher level, as for boxing right now. He’ll fight the best available opponent,” said Kellerman about Lomachenko’s next fight.