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By Chris Williams: WBA/WBC/WBO lightweight champion Vasily Lomachenko’s manager Egis Klimas says they’ve got their side of the negotiations completed for the October 3 unification match against IBF champ Teofimo Lopez in Las Vegas, Nevada.

@StevESPNKim is reporting that Loma’s manager Klimas is saying, “everything is done on our side.”

It’s too bad the Lomachenko vs. Teofimo fight will be taking place behind closed doors on October 3, seeing that the match can make a tremendous amount of money if they postpone it until the first half of 2021 for when crowds are allowed back.

Teofimo losing out on money

The lack of a gate for the Lomachenko-Lopez fight will result in the card taking a big hit financially. While that may not be a big deal for the 32-year-old favorite Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs), it could be bad for the 22-year-old Lopez (15-0, 12 KOs).

If Lopez loses this fight and his career goes to pieces, then he’ll have missed out on his one shot at getting a massive payday. It’s on the young Lopez to be assertive and let Top Rank know that he wants the fight with Lomachenko to take place in front of fans instead of behind closed doors.

Some would agree that WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford has the right idea by saying that’s doesn’t want to fight without fans present unless he can get the same kind f money he’d typically be getting if fans were current.

Top Rank wants Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) to take on a good opponent when he returns to the ring, but why would he do that if he’s not going to get paid what he usually would?

Teofimo may regret it later if he agrees to fight Lomachenko without fans if he’s not going to get paid top dollar by Top Rank for the fight. If this is Teoimo’s one shot at stardom, it would be brutal if he loses, and his career crumbles.

Lomachenko showing signs of age

Teofimo is fighting Lomachenko at the right time in his career, though, seeing that he’s starting to show signs of age and wear and tear at 32.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist Lomachenko has shown vulnerability in his three out of his last four fights since moving up to 135 in 2018. While some boxing fans blame Lomachenko’s recent struggles at 135 on him fighting outside of his natural weight class of 130, it’s more of a case of age starting to creep in.

Lomachenko had over 400 fights as an amateur in Ukraine, and he took a lot of shots even in winning. All that wear and tear is starting to catch up to Lomachenko now that he’s 32.

When Lomachenko fought at 130 in 2016 and 2017, he beat these fighters;

• Guillermo Rigondeaux – 39-years-old
• Miguel Marriaga – 33
• Jason Sosa – 32
• Nichols Walters – 34
• Roman Martinez – 37

The guys that Lomachenko has been fighting at 135, Jose Pedraza, Jorge Linares, and Luke Campbell, would likely beat every one of the fighters that Loma has beaten at 130. The same goes for Teofimo Lopez. He would be heavily favored against all of those older fighters, which is what they are. Loma beat a lot of old guys at super-featherweight.

The only fighter at lightweight that Lomachenko handled with ease is former WBA 135lb champ Anthony Crolla, who he smashed to pieces in a fourth-round knockout win in April 2019. But Crolla was considered a paper champion, a fighter who never should have been a champ, to begin with, due to his lack of talent.

Teofimo has a good chance of winning

The punching power, youth, and the counter-punching ability of Teofimo give him a good shot at handing Loachenko his first loss. If Teofimo can drag Lomachenko into the after rounds, he could take him out of there with one of his big shots.

The real question mark about Teofimo is how well he’ll be able to handle losing all the muscle weight that he’s packed on during the shutdown. A couple of months ago, Teofimo was walking about in his mid-150s, looking muscular without fans.

To get back down to 135, Teofimo has had to cut a lot of muscle weight, and he’ll need to lose a lot of water in the week of the fight. As a result, Teofimo may resemble a human skeleton by the time he enters the ring against Lomachenko. That’s going to play into Loma’s hands. Teofimo should be fighting at 140 at this point in his career. However, even that weight might be too light for him.