By Chris Williams: Top Rank head boss Bob Arum states that Vasily Lomachenko could face Richard Commey or Devin Haney for his next fight on December 11th.
It’s interesting how Arum threw Haney’s name in there to grab headlines, but in reality, it’ll almost surely be Commey that faces Lomachenko on December 11th.
Arum isn’t going to use Haney because he’s with a different promoter, Matchroom, fights on DAZN, and his style is fighting style of boring to watch.
“Commey’s name has come up,” Arum said to WBN about Loma’s December 11th opponent. “We’re looking at who’s available.” Additionally, Arum added that Haney is “also in the mix.”
It’s NOT news to anyone that former IBF 135-lb champion Commey (30-3, 27 KOs) is the frontrunner for former three-division world champion Lomachenko’s next fight. We already knew that over a week ago.
What’s surprising is that Arum mentions WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney (26-0, 15 KOs) as one of the options for Lomachenko’s December 11th fight. That’s just so UNBELIEVABLE that it’s hard to take Arum seriously.
It’s almost as if Arum threw Haney’s name in for clout-chasing purposes to get some badly needed attention for Lomachenko.
Arum has got to know by now that boxing fans are cool with the idea of Lomachenko fighting Teofimo’s leftovers by taking Commey, who was knocked out in the second round by Teo in December 2o019.
Fans are NOT excited at the idea of Lomachenko fighting the 34-year-old Commey because he’s someone who has been beaten by Teofimo and Denis Shafikov, and Robert Easter Jr.. These are guys that Lomachenko would likely beat while blindfolded.
Haney isn’t much better than Commey in terms of popularity, but he’s a little more recognizable to casual boxing fans.
With all the complaining that Haney has been doing about supposedly being avoided by the top fighters at 135, it would be good to finally see how he does against an elite fighter like Lomachenko.
Before Lomachenko was given the Franchise tag by the WBC a couple of years ago, Haney was trying to get a title shot against him. I mean, it would have been a pure mismatch, but Haney seemed to suggest that Lomachenko was avoiding him.
It was more of a case of Top Rank not wanting to make the fight due to network issues with Haney fighting on DAZN and Loma on ESPN. Haney says he’s a free agent now, so maybe it’s not an issue.
If Lomachenko wants to capture Haney’s WBC title, that would mean that when Loma does fight Teofimo Lopez in their rematch in early 2022, it would be for all four titles. You could really call in an undisputed lightweight clash.
Right now, fans don’t recognize Teofimo as the undisputed champion at 135 because his WBC Franchise belt is a giveaway strap that the World Boxing Council gives to fighters that they’re enamored with.
It’s like an honorary title, and, surprisingly, any fighter would want to accept the fake belt.
Lomachenko’s December 11th fight will be his last stop before meeting Teofimo in the first quarter of 2022. Loma must get some rounds under his belt to sharpen up for the rematch with Teo.
You can argue that Commey would be better for Lomachenko to help him prepare for the Teofimo rematch than the light-hitting Haney.
Lomachenko needs an opponent with the same punching power as Teofimo, and you can safely say that Commey comes pretty close.
Haney can’t punch at all, and it would be a waste of time for Lomachenko to face him other than to get a little more attention from fans and win his WBC belt.
Lomachenko looked rejuvenated in defeating Masayoshi Nakatani by a ninth round knockout on June 26th in his first fight since losing to Teofimo in October 2020.
What we saw from Lomachenko against Nakatani is a fighter that had corrected all the mistakes that he’d made against Teofimo.
Instead of starting slow as he had against Teofimo, he came out guns blazing, tagging Nakatani at will from the opening round, and dominating.
Loma never let Nakatani into the fight, and he did a better job of beating him than Teofimo.