By Sean Jones: Vasily Lomachenko says his goal is to defeat George Kambosos Jr to become the undisputed lightweight champion and he’s going to keep pushing until he accomplishes that.
Getting a shot at the newly crowned 135-lb champion Kambosos (20-0, 10 KOs) could prove difficult for Lomachenko because there are several fighters that have already expressed interest in facing him next.
Kambosos lucked out last month in facing an injured Teofimo Lopez, who was also weight drained and seemingly without any true guidance from his corner during their fight.
At Bob Arum said, it was the ‘perfect storm‘ that led to Kambosos defeating Teofimo. Everything that could go wrong for the 24-year-old Teofimo did leading up to and during that fight with Kambosos.
It’s highly possible that Kambosos will be dethroned in his next fight, which will result in Lomachenko needing to redirect his laser sights towards the fighter that defeats him.
Kambosos is arguably one of the weakest champions the 135-lb division has seen in some time, and he’s not someone that you can count on to hold onto his four titles for more than one defense depending on who he faces.
First things first, the former three-division world champion Lomachenko (15-2, 11 KOs) fights the dangerous former IBF 135lb champion Richard Commey (30-3, 27 KOs) this Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Lomachenko coming for Kambosos
“I have a goal to be undisputed world champion in the lightweight division, so I stay at 135 and continue my career,” said Vasily Lomachenko to Fighthype when asked whether he’d be interested in moving back down to 130 to challenge WBO super featherweight champion Shakur Stevenson next.
“No, I don’t know about my future because I’m focused on Saturday night and after Saturday night, we can discuss about the future,” said Lomachenko when asked if he believes he can get a title shot next against undisputed lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr.
“I will try to show my best in the ring. I said my motivation is my goal, my dream for the belts. This is my motivation and on Saturday night, I will try to show my best style my best skill, and what I trained in this training camp, I will try to do.
“I’m focused on the belts. It doesn’t matter if it’s [Teofimo] Lopez or something or someone else,” Lomachenko said when asked if he’s bothered that former undisputed lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez was beaten in his last fight before he could fight him and try and avenge his loss from 2020.
“Now, we have George Kambosos. He’s my goal, but first of all, Saturday night [against Richard Commey at Madison Square Garden],” said Lomachenko.
Loma is like a shark in the water, a perfect destroying machine, and knows easy prey when he sees it in looking at Kambosos.
This could prove to be too easy for Lomachenko, which is why Kambosos’ promoter Lou DiBella will likely keep him as far away as possible from the dangerous territorial waters that Lomachenko patrols. DiBella obviously knows what the end result would be if he matched Kambosos with a maneater like Lomachenko.
Kambosos’ win over Teofimo surprised Loma
I was surprised a little bit [at seeing Teofimo lose to Kambosos], but before the fight, I gave some chance to Kambosos.
“But I was surprised in the first time that he [Teofimo] went down, I was very surprised,” said Lomachenko. “During the fight, Lopez had a problem with his strategy.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Lomachenko said when asked if WBO lightweight champion Devin Haney is one of the champions he’s targeting at 135.
“No, it’s not the correct question,” said Lomachenko when asked if he’s happy at seeing Teofimo lose to Kambosos. “I’m not happy. I understand what he’s feeling because I was in the same situation when you lose.
“It’s never a happy situation when you lose. When you lose, it’s always hard for you to continue you’re career and you need to find your motivation and what pushes you in the gym to come back and train hard and continue your career.
“So, I understand his [Teofimo] feeling now, but it is what it is. This is sport, this is boxing. That’s why we love boxing,” said Lomachenko.
“It’s always hard when you lose, and then you training during your professional career when you don’t lose for a long time. You forget about this feeling and then you lose.
“It’s not a comfortable feeling, but if you have a goal, you must continue your goal. If you can’t attain your goal the first time, you must try the second time.
No quit in Lomachenko
“If you can’t attain your goal after the second time, you must continue because you have a goal,” said Lomachenko. “You said to yourself that you need to do this and you need to continue.
“Yeah, absolutely, I’m more motivated now than I was the first time because I believed I could win this fight [against Teofimo] with one arm. I believed it. But now I’m motivated and have a feeling when I lose for the time in 2007 in a match in the amateur career.
“At that time, I lost for the first time in my life. After that, I was very motivated and I come back with this feeling in myself and now, of course, I’m very motivated,” said Lomachenko.