By Aragon Garcia: It looks like Teofimo Lopez and Vasily Lomachenko will be fighting on May 30 in New York. The unbeaten IBF lightweight champion Teofimo (15-0, 12 KOs) posted the “May 30” date on social media late last Friday night in giving his boxing fans a hint when and where his his next fight against WBA/WBC [F]/WBO lightweight champion Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs).
This still isn’t official, but Teofimo is obviously letting his fans know when the fight will take place. Teofimo’s promoters at Top Rank may not like him telling his fans the date and city for his fight against Lomachenko, but oh well. The sooner the boxing fans know when the Lomachenko vs. Lopez fight takes place, the bigger the fight will be.
Lopez didn’t say it fully in giving his fans the info. He dropped a hint, and let his fans run with it. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?
“May 30th 🤫. Start spreadin’ the news, I’m leaving today, I want to be a part of it..,” said @TeofimoLopez.
New York = excellent location for Lomachenko-Teofimo fight
For fans that don’t know, Lopez is quoting lyrics from the famous Frank Sinatra song, ‘New York, New York’ when he says, “Start spreadin’ the news, I’m leaving today, I want to be a part of it.” Teofimo is jumping ahead of his promoters at Top Rank in revealing when and where his next fight against Lomachenko will be.
It makes sense for the Lomachenko vs. Teofimo fight to take place Madison Square Garden in New York. That’s location where the Brooklyn native Teofimo fought last in dethroning IBF 135-lb champion Richard Commey in a 2nd round TKO on December 14.
The 22-year-old Teofimo has fought 4 times in his four-year professional career at Madison Square Garden in New York, and he really likes that historic venue. MSG seats 20,789 fans for boxing events.
Is Teofimo too powerful for Lomachenko?
With the kind of punching power that Teofimo has going for him, he’s a nightmare for Loma.
It’s been six years since Lomachenko last lost against Orlando Salido in 2014 in a 12 round split decision defeat. Since then, Lomachenko has won his last 13 fights, albeit against a lot of weaker opponents. Of the guys that Lomachenko has beaten in the last six years, Gary Russell Jr. stands out as by far the best guy of the bunch.
Lomachenko had a lot of problems beating Russell Jr., and was forced to use movement because the American’s hand speed and combination punching was too much for him. Teofimo is arguably better than Russell Jr. and Orlando Salido. What those two fighters showed is Lomachenko doesn’t like getting hit to the body. He can’t get out of the way of the shots the way he does when his opponents target hit head, and he’s not used to it.
Lopez ready to beat the old lion Lomachenko
Teofimo will be looking to dethrone the old lion Lomachenko, and take his spot at the top of the lightweight division.
The pound-or-pound king Lomachenko has been one of the best fighters in boxing for the last seven years since turning pro in 2013 after capturing 2 Olympic gold medals for Ukraine. However, the 31-year-old Loma is starting to show age in his recent fights against Luke Campbell, Jorge Linares and Jose Pedraza.
It’s pretty obvious that Lomachenko has lost a couple steps, and is beginning to show decline. Lomachenko’s 397 amateur fights has put a lot of mileage on him, and taken something out of him. Even though Lomachenko has only had 15 fights as a professional, he’s more like a fighter that has had three times that many.