Vasyl Lomachenko looked as though he could rack up the weight class victories at will during his career until falling five short of Manny Pacquiao recently.
Having looked awesome initially at the lightweight limit, the Ukrainian suddenly looked out of his depth regarding weight against a much bigger Teofimo Lopez.
By his admission, there won’t be any further moves up in weight unless something drastic changes.
Super-lightweight, provided the right opportunity comes calling, can never be ruled out. However, while Josh Taylor remains undisputed king, there’s no way Lomachenko would go there.
Airing his views on heading further up the ladder than 135 before the Lopez fight, Loma said: “In my weight class and closer to my weight class, we don’t have a big superstar.
“Yes, we have big names at 147, but I can’t move up to 147 now because it’s too much {weight}, I think.”
Lomachenko returns from a disappointing performance against Teofimo Lopez this weekend, needing to land a big-name foe as soon as possible.
He faces an opponent Lopez defeated on points in July 2019. “Hi-Tech” wants to go one better and get the stoppage.
Still hopeful of a rematch, Lomachenko may have to think about when it comes to Teofimo. The WBN Fighter of the Year is far too big for him.
If you dissect the landscape at 140, nothing becomes clear until Taylor moves up. Once the Scot does, Loma could certainly lobby WBO President Paco Valcarcel to face Liam Paro for the vacant strap.
That is a viable option. But other than holding favor with the WBO and WBC – the latter of which has more prominent fighters waiting for a shot at the title, Lomachenko has few options at 140.
MANNY PACQUIAO
One super-fight option could be securing Manny Pacquiao before the Filipino Senator’s retirement, though. Due to Lomachenko’s obvious weight restrictions, asking the “Pacman” to drop down to 140 for a huge event would be pleasing to the fans, indeed.
Asked about Manny Pacquiao back in October, though, Lomachenko said he didn’t need the eight-weight champion on his record.
“I’m not disrespecting Pacquiao, but I don’t want to make my name bigger because I beat an old legend. I have my road.
“There are a lot of good fighters to fight who are comparable to me. He’s old. I think his career is done. I don’t want to become a legend in boxing because of him.”
Those statements got made when Lomachenko was an undefeated champion. Now he’s lost his titles and looking for the next milestone. Who knows whether Pacquiao’s phone will ring after this weekend is over.
Pacquiao battles a champion huge at his weight in Errol Spence Jr. Defeat could signal one final fight at the lower limit, which Lomachenko may see as a solid opportunity in early 2022.
