By Matt Lieberman: Vasily Lomachenko says he’ll be fighting in April or May, and he wants a rematch with Teofimo Lopez to avenge his defeat from last October.
Lomachenko’s opponent for April or May is still unknown, but it’s likely to be one of the top guys at 13o or 135.
He’s coming off shoulder surgery, which makes it important that he not jump straight into a fight against one of the elite fighters.
Teofimo Lopez Sr. believes that Lomachenko will beat everyone at super featherweight or lightweight, including Shakur Stevenson, Devin Haney, and Gervonta Davis.
It’s safe to say that none of those fighters will be facing Lomachenko in April or May.
Regrettably, Teofimo (16-0, 12 KOs) and his father have moved on, and they won’t be revisiting a second fight against the two-time Olympic gold medalist Lomachenko.
The good news for Lomachenko is the three lightweights titles that Teofimo took from him on October 17th will soon be vacated.
If Lomachenko decides to stay at 135, he’ll have a chance to recapture them potentially in 2022.
Lomachenko insists he won
The former WBA/WBC/WBO lightweight champion Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KOs) believes he did enough to deserve a draw or a victory over Lopez.
Lomachenko says he watched the replay of the Teofimo fight in slow motion, and he counted the punches that he landed.
Loma says that many of the shots that Teofimo threw, didn’t land and that he should have had his hand raised
Additionally, he feels that the judges weren’t objective when they scored the fight. However, the boxing public agrees with the judges that Teofimo did enough to deserve the victory.
The fact that the fans agreed with the judges has left Lomachenko marginalized about his view of the fight outcome.
The more Lomachenko stands firm with his belief that he was the better man, the more boxing fans view him as in denial and unwilling to face the reality of what happened.
“I would like the rematch with Lopez, and if he’s saying if we fought 100 times and he would win 100 times, then prove it,” Lomachenko said to RingTV. “If he thinks he’s a real champion by this fight, which he just got lucky, then fight me again.
“Lopez probably watched the fight the next day and they understand that they got lucky their hand was raised that night.
I see at least a draw, but if you want to count punch-to-punch, I can say I won that fight by one round,” said Lomachenko.
As you can tell, the highly talented Loma isn’t used to dealing with defeat, and he’s not taking it well.
It would be better for Lomachenko to take the high road, own the loss, and let the judges’ decision stand without him muddying the water. Lomachenko’s comments about the fight don’t help him change what hap happened.
Vasyl Lomachenko to fight in April or May
“I don’t give him any credit because he fought exactly the way I was prepared for,” said Lomachenko about Teofimo being a robot and not adapting.
“My shoulder feels good. I’m doing some rehabbing exercises. We’re looking at April or May in 2021,” said Lomachenko.
The April or May timeline is just a guess on Lomachenko’s part since he’s not even begun his rehab yet for his shoulder surgery.
Instead of Lomachenko trying to dismiss the outcome as a situation where the judges got it wrong, he needs to understand how he failed to what he needed to win.
Lomachenko didn’t throw punches for the first seven rounds and gave that portion of the fight away to Teofimo. When Loma come back late, he gave away the crucial 12th round.