IBF lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko has been given a medical exception by the Sanctioning body for him to hold onto his title.
IBF’s Ruling
In the meantime, the IBF has ordered #2 Raymond Muratalla and #4 Zaur Abdullaev to battle for the interim 135-lb belt. Lomachencheko (18-3, 12 KOs) must defend his IBF title against the Muratalla-Abdullaev winner by October 8th to keep his belt.
It’s a tough decision that Lomachenko, 36, must make because he needs his IBF title to help his negotiating position for a unification fight against WBA champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
However, Loma would not be paid to fight the winner of the Muratallev vs. Abdullaev fight because neither of them is well-known to casual boxing fans. Moreover, it would be a brutal fight for Lomachenko if he faced Muratalla (22-0, 17 KOs). That guy can punch and is one of the most dangerous lightweights in the division.
If the IBF allows Lomachenko to bypass the winner so that he can fight Tank, that would be one way around having to fight the Muratalla-Abdullaev fight.
Abdullaev (20-1, 12 KOs) has won his last nine fights since suffering his only career defeat, losing to Devin Haney by a fourth-round stoppage on September 13, 2019.
Haney landed the perfect shot to knock out Abdullaev in that fight. If they had fought a rematch, Abdullaev probably would have beaten Haney because he was doing well before being stopped.
Lomachenko would need to really value his IBF title to return from medical leave and defend against the Muratalla-Abdullaev winner. It’s questionable whether Loma will view a fight against either of these as important enough for him to make a defense by the IBF’s October 8th deadline.
If Lomachenko is going to resume his career, it would likely be to go straight into a lucrative match against Tank Davis. Given Loma’s age and injury problems, anything else doesn’t make sense.