Bob Arum says he would be interested in making a fight between Vasily Lomachenko and WBC 135-lb champion Devin Haney next.
Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KOs) still hasn’t an opponent yet, and the unbeaten Haney (25-0, 15 KOs) would be an excellent fight for him.
In the past, Lomachenko went the Franchise route with the WBC when Haney was his mandatory after he captured the WBC lightweight title in 2019. But things are different now that Lomachenko is coming off a loss to Teofimo Lopez and wants to fight for a world title.
Arum says besides Haney, he would like to match Lomachenko against Ryan Garcia and Oscar Valdez or set up a rematch with Teofimo.
Of the three options Arum mentioned for Lomachenko, only Oscar Valdez would likely face Loma. Ryan Garcia, Teofimo, and Haney aren’t interested in facing Lomachenko.
Arum would likely make Lomachenko vs. Teofimo a fight, but it’s not entirely up to him. Teofimo has to want a rematch with Lomachenko, and thus far, he’s not excited about facing him again.
“Loma-Haney, that’s a fight that we would certainly consider,” said Arum to Barbershop Conversation about his interest in matching Vasily Lomachenko against WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney.
“So Loma has a lot of guys he can fight. He can fight, Loma can fight, maybe fight Ryan Garcia, or if he wants to go down to 130, maybe Valdez.
“That’s a great match for Loma. So again, all of these are in play, and it depends on their managers and trainers which fights get made,” said Arum.
Haney has made it known that he’s not interested in fighting Lomachenko, and he doesn’t see him as one of the ‘Four Kings’ in the lightweight division.
But we’re not seeing Haney face guys better than Lomachenko, so it makes it clear Devin doesn’t like the fight. Judge for yourself. Haney’s last three fights were against these guys:
– Yuriorkis Gamboa
– Alfredo Santiago
– Zaur Abdullaev
None of those fighters is in the same class as Lomachenko, meaning Haney may lack the confidence to fight him.
“It’s a finite date, three and half years,” said Arum about how much time Teofimo Lopez has left on his Top Rank contract.
“That’s his contract. Let’s say he goes up in weight and we do him against the winner of [Josh] Taylor and [Jose] Ramirez, maybe we get an extension of the contract. That’s what we could see, but I’m talking about what is and not what can be.
“No, not necessarily,” said Arum when asked if ESPN wants Lomachenko vs. Teofimo 2. “ESPN wants us to put on the best possible fights.
“The one thing that’s great about working with ESPN is they don’t tell us which match to make. They rely on us to make the best possible matches.
“They would certainly be happy with a Lopez-Loma rematch, but they’ve never mentioned to us, ‘Hey, you get that done or anything like that,” said Arum.
It would be good for boxing if Arum set up a rematch between Teofimo (16-0, 12 KOs) and Lomachenko. If Lomachenko won the second fight, as many believe he would, it would set the wheels in motion for a trilogy match.
If Teofimo were facing better opposition than Lomachenko, you could excuse him for not making the second fight. But Teofimo hasn’t fought anyone since beating Lomachenko last October.
Teofimo plans to fight George Kambosos Jr., a big step down from his match against Lomachenko. Fans suspect Teofimo is afraid to take risks with his career now that he’s gotten a taste of success with his win over Lomachenko.