By Jeff Aronow: Vasily Lomachenko will be fighting former IBF lightweight champion Richard Commey in the main event, and heavyweight prospect Jared Anderson is the chief support against Oleksandr Teslenko on December 11th on ESPN atMadisonSquare Garden in New York. The card will be shown on ESPN, ESPN Deports, and simulcast on ESPN+ starting at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.
Also on the Lomachenko vs. Commey card is welterweight Xander Zayas and middleweight Nico Ali Walsh.
Lomachenko vs. Commey has been discussed for the last two months, so it’s anti-climatic that it’s finally officially announced for December 11th.
Loma taking on another of Teofimo’s past opponents
Boxing fans want the former three-division world champion Lomachenko (15-2, 11 KOs) to be fighting for a world title already against 135-lb champions Teofimo Lopez, Devin Haney, and Gervonta’ Tank’ Davis.
Instead, they see Lomachenko fight another one of Teofimo’s leftovers, and it seems evident at this point that he’s having a difficult time getting over his loss to the New Yorker from last year.
Top Rank needs to try and get a title shot for the 33-year-old Lomachenko because he’s too old to be spinning his wheels fighting the likes of former IBF 135-lb champion Commey (30-3, 27 KOs) and Masayoshi Nakatani.
Those two fights have eaten up an entire year for Lomachenko, and that’s wasteful. If Top Rank can’t get Lomachenko a title shot at 135, they should have him drop down to 130 and challenge either WBC super featherweight champion Oscar Valdez or WBO champion Shakur Stevenson for their titles.
Heavyweight Jared Anderson (10, 10 KOs) will be battling Ukrainian Oleksandr Teslenko (17-1, 13 KOs) in a scheduled 10 round fight in the co-feature.
With luck, the 29-year-old Canadian-based Teslenko can give Jared a better fight than his last opponent Vladimir Tereshkin, who he knocked out in two rounds last month on October 9th on the undercard of Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder III at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Tereshkin folded too quickly for boxing fans to get a chance to see what the big fuss is about Jared Anderson.
The fans have heard the sparring rumors about Jared having knocked Tyson Fury out and battered him daily in preparation for his trilogy match with Wilder.
Regrettably, Tereshkin provided little resistance for the 21-year-old ‘Big Baby’ Jared Anderson for fans to get a chance to gauge how good he is.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum believes Jared is a future heavyweight champion.
If he’s that type of guy, it’ll be interesting to see how long it takes for Anderson to get a title shot.
In the meantime, it would be good to have Jared change his nickname to something other than ‘Big Baby’ because that name has already been in use by Jarrell Miller.
The last thing Jared Anderson and Top Rank need is casual boxing fans to mistake him for Miller when marketing his fights.
“It is only fitting that the great Lomachenko headlines boxing’s highly anticipated return to Madison Square Garden,” said Top Rank promoter Bob Arum. “Richard Commey can never be counted out, as he’s a tough fighter who carries huge power in both hands.
“Jared Anderson is a future heavyweight champion, but I expect Teslenko to be his toughest challenge to date.”