By Chris Williams: 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 doesn’t have 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 wanting to fight for a world title.
Arum says besides Haney, he would like to match Lomachenko against Ryan Garcia, Oscar Valdez or set up a rematch with Teofimo.
Of the three options, Arum mentioned for Lomachenko, likely only Oscar Valdez would face Loma. Ryan Garcia, Teofimo, and Haney haven’t shown interest in facing Lomachenko.
That’s a fight that Arum would likely make, Lomachenko vs. Teofimo, 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.
Arum discusses options for Lomachenko
“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.
“There’s a lot of good fights for Loma. “One of the things that I would have like to do is do a rematch between Loma and [Teofimo] Lopez, and if Loma won that fight, a big trilogy third fight.
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 [Oscar] 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, 22, 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 pretty obvious Devin doesn’t fancy the fight. Judge for yourself. Haney’s last three fights were against these guys:
- Yuriorkis Gamboa
- Alfredo Santiago
- Zaur Abdullaev
None of those fighters are in the same class as Lomachenko, which means that Haney perhaps lacks the confidence to face him.
ESPN would like Teofimo vs. Lomachenko 2
“It’s a finite date, three and half years,” said Arum about how much time left Teofimo Lopez has on his contract with Top Rank.
“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 the sport of boxing if Arum were to 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 is planning on fighting George Kambosos Jr next, and that’s a big step down from Lomachenko. Many boxing fans believe Teofimo is afraid to take risks with his career now that he’s gotten a taste of success with his win over Lomachenko.