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One of the best boxing fights that can be made appears to be on the verge of becoming reality.
It looks as if Vasiliy Lomachenko is going to make his pay-per-view main event debut later this year.
The consensus #1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world is lined up for what is effectively an undisputed lightweight championship bout against rising Honduran-American star Teofimo Lopez. While no date or venue is set, The Athletic’s Mike Coppinger reports that May 30th is the targeted date, with the showdown poised to air on pay-per-view.
Sources: The Vasiliy Lomachenko-Teofimo Lopez lightweight title unification fight is targeted for May 30, though date hasn’t been finalized. Bout likely to land on ESPN PPV rather than linear or ESPN+. Loma has never headlined on PPV in the U.S., but this is his biggest fight yet
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) February 10, 2020
Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs) is a tremendously accomplished talent. A two-time Olympic gold medalist and three-division world champion, the Ukrainian unified three of the four major titles at 135 lbs with an entertaining decision victory over Luke Campbell last August. He has notably beaten Gary Russell Jr, Guillermo Rigondeaux, and Jorge Linares in his short but incredible professional career. His remarkable boxing abilities, footwork, speed, and timing are a marvel to watch, and while he is not a vicious KO puncher, he’s certainly not lacking in power.
Lopez (15-0, 12 KOs) looks the part of a potential superstar, and pulling off the upset against Lomachenko would go a long way towards reaching that status. He captured the IBF belt with a spectacular TKO of Richard Commey this past December, a major improvement from his admitted lackluster decision win over Masayoshi Nakatani earlier that July. Having only turned pro in November 2016, Top Rank opted to push Lopez quickly up the ranks and it’s yielded great results thus far. He has an entertaining style, a big (if brash, to some) personality, and now he’s a world champion who’s jumping straight into this mega-clash.
The WBC recently promoted Lomachenko to “franchise” champion status, which I am not particularly interested in explaining apart from saying stupid the whole belt system is. Any intelligent person knows that this is an undisputed title fight, and when it does happen, it’ll be appointment viewing.