By Sam Volz: Vasyl Lomachenko will return to the ring this Saturday night, October 29th, in an important fight against Jamaine Ortiz. The fight will be shown live on ESPN+ at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Lomachenko is fighting one of the best prospects in the lightweight division, Ortiz, who recently beat the former WBO super featherweight champion Jamel Herring.
In terms of talent, Ortiz, 26, is one of the best in the 135-lb division and would likely have done the same thing to George Kambosos Jr that he did to Herring.
A victory for Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs) could see him challenge undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney next, assuming the 23-year-old doesn’t vacate his titles to move up to 140, as Paulie Malignaggi, the Nostradamus of boxing, has previously predicted.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says that if Haney doesn’t take the fight with ‘The Matrix’ Lomachenko, we’ll see Shakur Stevenson battle him in 2023.
.@VasylLomachenko knows how to put on a show in the city 🏙
🎟 https://t.co/skaanMqjcE pic.twitter.com/SMGX5AnJtB
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) October 18, 2022
The only downside of that clash is it won’t have the four belts on the line if Haney flees the 135-lb division to circumnavigate around the talented former three-division world champion Lomachenko.
Loma is hoping that Haney will stay at 135 so that he can challenge him for all four belts to have a chance to become the undisputed champion, but he can’t force him to take the fight.
“The most realistic fight is Loma. It’s the easiest fight to be made, but we just got to see what’s next,” said Devin Haney to ID Boxing. “The most realistic fight is Loma.
“You rate him that, I don’t rate him that,” said Haney when asked about his thoughts on potentially fighting one of the best natural boxers in the sport against Lomachenko.
“We’ll see when we step in the ring if he is what he says he is,” said Haney.
“Yes, that is the plan, but again, I’ll consult with Haney, I’ll consult with Lomachenko, and I’ll speak to Shakur Stevenson. Whatever, in the first quarter of next year, we’re going to get a great lightweight championship match,” said Bob Arum to ID Boxing when asked if he’ll attempt to put a fight together between Devin Haney and Vasyl Lomachenko next if Loma wins on Saturday night.
“Well, he’d like to, yeah. Shakur loves the competition,” said Arum about Shakur Stevenson entering the mix at lightweight.
