The Ukrainian, riding high in the boxing world on the back of one of the best amateur runs in history, was immediately taken up on his bid to face Mayweather before admitting it was a joke.
. @FloydMayweather pic.twitter.com/68ukTjFVUH
— Hi-Tech Lomachenko (@VasylLomachenko) December 19, 2017
A short time later though, Mayweather responded to Lomachenko’s tongue-in-cheek request and desire to face Gervonta Davis by stating ‘Hi-Tech’ should move up in weight next year and face new 140-pound title challenger Mikey Garcia.
“It would have been an honor to fight you in your prime but I’m not talking about you,” Lomachenko had tweeted. “Please stop hiding your fighter (Gervonta Davis).”
Mayweather replied: “If Lomachenko is what they say he is, I think they should make him and Mikey Garcia,” he told FightHype.com. “I mean, that’s just my honest opinion. I think Lomachenko and Mikey Garcia should lock up.
“Great fighters always move up. We call that legendary. A lot of fighters are taking shots at Tank (Davis). At the end of the day, Tank is not perfect, but his boxing record is.”
As Garcia is facing Sergey Lipinets in a bid to become a four-weight world champion, Lomachenko would have some scope to make his lightweight debut before a further move up, something the 29 year-old is amazingly being criticised for after beating Guillermo Rigondeaux.
There are those who see Lomachenko as playing it safe by not facing the bigger fighters around his weight divisions and believe his next move should be against Davis or up at 135 opposite a top campaigner – possibly Jorge Linares.
Turning pro at 125 pounds, it’s been long noted by Lomachenko and his team that he’ll struggle to get past the lightweight division, and facing Garcia – who seems to have more room to grow in future, could be a step too far for the current WBN Fighter of the Year for 2016.
Phil Jay is Editor of World Boxing News. Follow on Twitter @PhilDJay
