By Huck Allen: Vasyl Lomachenko has decided to pass up on the offer to fight George Kambosos Jr because he prefers to stay and fight in Ukraine against the Russian invasion of his country.
Lomachenko could leave if he wanted and take on IBF/WBA/WBC Franchise/WBO lightweight champion Kambosos (20-0, 10 KOs) on June 5th in Melbourne, Australia, but he’d rather stay and fight.
Loma is with the territorial defense battalion in Ukraine, and he’s been serving since shortly after the war began a month ago when the Russians invaded his country.
With Ukraine needing men from 18-to 60 to defend, Lomachenko is now defending his country in a war that has no end in sight. It’s a war that is reminiscent of the Chosin Reservoir Campaign in 1950, and it could drag on indefinitely.
Lomachenko is really in it, and it’s got to be tough for him on the front lines going through what he’s now experiencing with the constant shelling.
Now that Lomachenko is out of the picture, Haney is being given the chance of a lifetime to fight for the undisputed championship.
The 23-year-old Haney, who has looked lackluster in his last two fights against Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz Jr. and Jorge Linares, has gotten lucky.
As the saying goes, ‘It’s a really bad wind that doesn’t blow somebody some good.’ Haney has now been given the fight intended for Lomachenko, and it’s now his moment in the spotlight to shine bright.
Before the war started in Ukraine, Lomachenko had agreed to the fight with Kambosos to face him on June 5th at the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia.
It was all set up, and Lomachenko could have put recaptured the titles that he’d lost to Teofimo Lopez in October 2020.
“How can anyone question, the fight he’s going through right now is much bigger than any boxing match,” Lou DiBella said to ESPN about Lomachenko.
“We made a deal with him, the deal was literally done before the invasion; we wanted to give him any chance within reason with our allowable timetable,” DiBella said.
“We have nothing but the utmost respect for his decision. Kambosos wanted to make sure once we made that deal that, Lomachenko had ample time to decide. We said all along we would try to make the biggest fights, and we did that today.”
The Kambosos vs. Haney fight winner can always face Lomachenko at a future date when he returns from Ukraine.