By Steve Kim
After his latest clinic against Jason Sosa, Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum looks forward to planning Vasyl Lomachenko's next outing.
"We'll have to see, certainly the (Orlando) Salido fight will be very attractive. That's a possibility. Or maybe even move up to 135 to fight (Terry) Flanagan. It will be one or the other," the veteran promoter told BoxingScene.com on Monday morning.
Salido defeated Lomachenko (8-1, 6 KOs) back in March of 2014 in what was his second pro bout in controversial fashion. Not only missing the featherweight limit (as he came into the bout as the WBO 126-pound titlist) but hitting Lomachenko with numerous low-blows throughout their twelve round contest that went unpenalized. Flanagan is the current WBO champion who out-pointed Petr Petrov this past weekend in England.
The question is will Salido simply over-price himself out of the rematch?
"'Over-price' is a definition and again I think I know these people. They'll be on the high side but they'll be reasonable," said Arum, who had talked of perhaps putting Lomachenko - who stopped Sosa this past weekend at the MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill in nine rounds - in Chicago (which has a sizable Ukrainian population).
"Well, it depends on who he fights. Salido, yeah, or maybe at the Forum (in Los Angeles), that's a possibility. If he fights Flanagan then probably to Chicago or some place in England, "said Arum, who continues to be amazed by Lomachenko.
"Can you name one fighter in the world that compares even remotely to Lomachenko?"
Perhaps it's a biased opinion, but Arum believes that last fighter that compares to him was another one of his past clients, boxing legend Muhammad Ali.
"You've got to watch, there was a two year period with Ali from '66 to '67 when they wouldn't let him fight anymore, that Ali also had the most incredible footwork that you've ever seen," he claimed.
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.