By Matt Lieberman: Lightweight champions Teofimo Lopez and Vasiliy Lomachenko have reportedly agreed to terms for a unification match in mid-October on ESPN. Mike Coppinger first on the big news for the fight. The date of the battle is still unknown at this time.
Top Rank was previously talking about scheduling the Lomachenko vs. Lopez fight for October 3, but now it’s to take place from mid-October to late. That means the three following dates are possibilities for Lomachenko-Lopez: October 17, 24, or 31.
Lomachenko vs. Lopez on regular ESPN
Placing the Lomachenko vs. Lopez fight on Halloween wouldn’t be the most significant move, as a lot of boxing fans may be out that night. Of course, with this being the pandemic, they may stay home. In that case, staging Lomachenko vs. Lopez on October 31 would work.
This won’t be pay-per-view, and that’s good for boxing fans because it’s not a great time to ask them to pay $70 for PPV during the pandemic. It’s also a positive for Lomachenko and Lopez’s respective careers that the fight won’t be on PPV because more boxing fans will get a chance to see them fight.
Both of them haven’t been in enough high-profile fights up to this point for them to be fighting on PPV. With the visibility the Lomachenko-Teofomo fight will get on regular ESPN, the winner of this match could see their popularity shoot through the roof, provided that the bout is an exciting one and not a dull affair.
You can count on Teofimo doing his utmost to make the fight with Loamchenko as exciting as possible while it lasts.
We don’t know what we’re going to get with Lomachenko, considering his last match against Luke Campbell was on the dull side due to all the movement that he used to avoid getting hit.
“Breaking: Vasiliy Lomachenko and Teofimo Lopez have agreed to terms for a lightweight title unification fight in mid-to-late October, sources tell
@TheAthletic. Great progress made toward the fight headlining ESPN rather than PPV. Can’t wait for this one,” said @MikeCoppinger.
Vasiliy sacrificing a portion of his purse
It was predictable that an agreement would be coming soon between IBF 135-pound champ Teofimo (15-0, 12 KOs) and WBA/WBC [Franhise]/WBO champion Lomachenko 14-1, 10 KOs). What made that possible was that he two-time Olympic gold medalist gave up a portion of his purse to get the match across the finish line.
Already a lot of boxing fans are writing the 23-year-old Teofimo no chance of winning the fight, as they feel that Lomachenko is on another level than him and all the other fighters at 135 and 130. We’ll have to see because he’s been getting hit a lot in his recent fights.
Luke Campbell, Jose Pedraza, and Jorge Linares were all about to land a lot of big shots on Lomachenko, but he did an excellent job of handling their power. However, it’s a different story with Teofimo, who hits harder than all of those fighters, and he’s got welterweight-level power in ether hand.
If Lomachenko wants to win this fight, he’s going to need to shut down Teofimo’s offense entirely.
Teofimo has the punching power to win this fight if he can land enough of his big power shots on Lomachenko. He’ll need to time Lomachenko when he’s coming in because he’s not going to be a stationary target in this fight, especially given that he’s facing Teofimo.
A win for Teofimo over Lomachenko could turn him into a star, and that would be a substantial positive for Top Rank. Lomachenko is a great fighter, but he’s not become a big attraction with boxing fans.
He lacks the charisma needed to take his career to the next level, but that’s not the case with Teofimo. He does have appeal but needs over big names to turn him into a star.