By Jim Calfa: Vasyl Lomachenko has contacted his promoters at Top Rank and wants to be back in action fighting as early as October.
Lomachenko is returning from the war in Ukraine and is now ready to get back in action after a seven-month break since December.
Top Rank president Todd Dudoef told Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports News that Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs) has contacted the company about resuming his career and wants to fight within the next three months.
Given that timeline, it’s unknown what type of opponent Top Rank can get for the two-time Olympic gold medalist Lomachenko to fight.
Loma would obviously like a chance to fight for a world title, but that’s not possible at 135. If Lomachenko were open to fighting at 130, 126, or 140, that would increase his chances of getting a world title. chance
The war in Lomachenko’s homeland derailed his fight against former unified lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr. in Australia. Those two were supposed to fight, but the war took that fight away.
Instead of Lomachenko fighting Kambosos for his four belts, WBC champion Devin Haney took advantage of the situation to face him last June.
Per @ToddDuboef at @trboxing @VasylLomachenko has contacted the company and wants a fight as soon as October. He’s been participating in the war, defending his native Ukraine against the Russian invasion. No opponents discussed at this point. #Loma
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) July 7, 2022
It’s good that Lomachenko will be back in action, as the lightweight division misses his presence. He hasn’t been out of action long enough to get ring rusty, so he should be able to jump in there with a top-level contender in the division.
Given Lomachenko’s talent, many rival promoters won’t want to put their fighters in with him and watch them get beaten.
After he lost his titles to Teofimo Lopez in 2020, he came back to defeat Masayoshi Nakatani and Richard Commey, looking impressive in both fights.
Lomachenko could find himself aced out by undisputed lightweight champion Haney. After all, he’s not going to do him any favors because he wasn’t given a fight when Loma held the WBC title.
It’s safe to say that for Lomachenko to get a title shot against Haney; he’ll need to go the mandatory route. That could take a while.
That’s why Lomachenko should look at fighting at 130 or 135 because he has a better chance of getting a world title shot in one of those two weight classes than he does at 135.
