Lomachenko Might Not Realize It, But He Needs Teofimo Lopez
By Keith Idec
Seven nights from now, Vasiliy Lomachenko is scheduled to defend his WBA âsuperâ world lightweight title against Anthony Crolla.
You havenât heard or read a whole lot about it just yet because, frankly, calling Crolla a legitimate threat to Lomachenkoâs lightweight championship reign isnât a narrative even legendary carnival barker Bob Arum could peddle without winking. Thatâs not necessarily Lomachenkoâs fault, nor Arumâs, as the WBA has installed Crolla as the mandatory challenger for Lomachenkoâs crown.
For embarrassing measure, the consistently ridiculous sanctioning organization also elevated Lomachenko from its âworldâ champion at 135 pounds to its âsuperâ champion. Because, hey, why have one champion per recognized organization in a given division when you can make money off sanctioning another âtitleâ fight two weeks later â Robert Easter Jr. versus Rances Barthelemy â for a trinket that shouldnât exist?
Lomachenko simply couldâve vacated the WBA lightweight title he won by stopping Jorge Linares with that textbook body shot last May 12 at Madison Square Garden. Except that trying to persuade boxers to give up titles is impossible most times, something Arum accepted was particularly true of Lomachenko very early in whatâs now nearly a six-year partnership.
âYouâve gotta understand, my guy Lomachenko is an eastern European,â Arum told BoxingScene.com. âThey love to pile up titles, they love to unify and they donât like to give up belts. There was no chance I could convince him to walk away.â
The 30-year-old Lomachenko (12-1, 9 KOs) wants to fully unify boxingâs lightweight titles. He already owns the WBA and WBO belts, and he has designs on taking Richard Commeyâs IBF crown later this year.
Lomachenko-Commey was the fight we were supposed to see next Friday night. It was all but a done deal until Ghanaâs Commey (28-2, 25 KOs) suffered a hand injury during his second-round technical knockout of Russiaâs Isa Chaniev (13-2, 6 KOs) on February 2 in Frisco, Texas.
Physical therapy to help heal a floating ligament in his right hand left Commey unable to train until this week. Lou DiBella, Commeyâs promoter, told ESPN.com on Thursday that he wants to take a tune-up bout before boxing Lomachenko later in 2019.
If nothing else, the bigger, hard-hitting Commey seems like a more imposing opponent for Lomachenko than Englandâs Crolla (34-6-3, 13 KOs). Meanwhile, weâre left to watch Lomachenko â a 100-1 favorite, according to numerous Internet sports books â defend his title against a tough but overmatched underdog that twice lost unanimous decisions to Linares (45-5, 28 KOs).
The unique Ukrainian should overcome Crolla relatively easily in a fight ESPN+ will stream April 12 from Staples Center in Los Angeles. Lomachenkoâs following fight figures to be another lightweight title unification bout against Commey.
Assuming Lomachenko (12-1, 9 KOs) wins both of those fights, thatâs when his somewhat stagnant career could come to a pivotal point. For all of his remarkable abilities and Arumâs accompanying promotional machine, Lomachenko is becoming boring.
Not in a literal sense. No, heâs still fun to watch because his athleticism and skills still make you do double-takes sometimes.
That said, predictability breeds boredom among fans and cynics alike. They want to see one of the best boxers in the world tested more than Pedraza, Crolla or even Commey can push him, particularly as he moves toward the back end of his physical prime.
Simply put, the two-time Olympic gold medalist must get back to pursuing legacy-building fights.
Since demoralizing Nicholas Walters into submission in November 2016, Lomachenko has beaten Jason Sosa, Miguel Marriaga, Guillermo Rigondeaux, Linares and Jose Pedraza. There are four former champions among that group, but even Lomachenko dismisses the most noteworthy win of those five victories because Rigondeaux, while gifted and then unbeaten, moved up two weight classes to fight him 16 months ago.
Linares knocked down Lomachenko in the seventh round, which served as an unfriendly reminder that heâs probably better suited for 130 pounds than 135. Lomachenkoâs commitment to lightweight is firm, though, which limits the options for the type of intriguing challenges that defined the first half of his pro career (Orlando Salido, Gary Russell Jr. and Walters).
The two toughest opponents most mentioned for Lomachenko are Mikey Garcia and Gervonta Davis.
Welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. just dominated Garcia (39-1, 30 KOs), which means Garcia would have to win a fight or two before becoming viable for Lomachenko again in a pay-per-view event. Thatâs assuming Garcia, who still holds the WBC lightweight title, would move all the way back down from welterweight to lightweight.
âThe one element that we donât know is what happens with Garciaâs title,â Arum said. âWill Mikey give it up? Or not? Or what? We donât know. Once we know that, weâll know which way to go.â
Even if he drops down to 135 pounds again, Garciaâs contentious past with Arumâs company makes a Garcia-Lomachenko match unlikely even among optimists. Floyd Mayweather, whose company promotes Davis (21-0, 20 KOs), has gone back and forth about whether battling Lomachenko would make sense for the powerful southpaw from Baltimore.
Enter Teofimo Lopez.
The extremely confident Lomachenko wonât admit it, but he needs Lopez. The fast-developing Lopez is just 21, but he is the perfect partner for Lomachenko to make magic both at the box office and on pay-per-view.
Unlike Lomachenko, who isnât especially eager to do whatâs required to build his brand beyond boxing fans, Lopez is completely promotable. The polarizing Lopez has the one-punch power and the personality to become a true star, and the 2016 Olympian pursues that ambition accordingly.
Marketability notwithstanding, Lopez (12-0, 10 KOs) definitely needs a couple more impressive victories in 2019 to make a fight against Lomachenko more saleable. The brash Brooklyn native is scheduled to face Finlandâs Edis Tatli (31-2, 10 KOs) in a 10-rounder on an ESPN Pay-Per-View undercard April 20, before the main event between WBO welterweight champ Terence Crawford (34-0, 25 KOs) and Amir Khan (33-4, 20 KOs).
Lopez is heavily favored to defeat Tatli, but he will be matched against a more threatening opponent in his following fight. Then, Lomachenko-Lopez likely will become more than just a fascinating fight we might see one day.
âFor me, the major pay-per-view bombshell for Lomachenko would be against Teofimo Lopez, if he keeps winning,â Arum said. âI talked to Teofimoâs father [Tuesday]. If heâs successful April 20th, then heâs a main event guy in July, on one of our telecasts. And then weâll have him fight a real step-up fight against a top lightweight opponent available at the end of the year. And then, sometime after the Super Bowl, come back on a pay-per-view with Lomachenko against Teofimo. I think that would do extraordinarily well.â
Lopez is applying pressure on Top Rank to make the Lomachenko bout before the end of this year. The Las Vegas resident claims making 135 pounds has become problematic and he doesnât want to wait much longer to move up to 140 pounds, a weight at which Lomachenko wonât compete.
The precocious Lopez realizes, of course, that he needs Lomachenko to help him reach superstardom, much more than he needs to move up. Based on the somewhat stagnant nature of his celebrated career and the lack of profitable options available to Lomachenko, he needs Lopez, too.
