By Keith Idec
Vasyl Lomachenko had hoped to get the opportunity to avenge his lone professional loss in his next fight.
There was a time when he thought a rematch against Orlando Salido was basically a done deal. Ultimately, though, Salido turned down the bout because he wanted more money than he was offered by Lomachenko’s promoter, Top Rank Inc.
Panama’s Jezreel Corrales (21-1, 8 KOs, 1 NC), the WBA 130-pound champion, also turned down what would’ve been a partial unification fight against Lomachenko (7-1, 5 KOs). Jason Sosa (20-1-4, 15 KOs) was more than willing to challenge Lomachenko, thus they’ll fight for Lomachenko’s WBO world super featherweight title April 8 in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
The Ukrainian southpaw is thankful Sosa accepted the fight, but the 29-year-old, two-time Olympic gold medalist would’ve preferred a chance to redeem himself against Salido.
“Yes, I was a little disappointed because as far as I knew, everything was going through and everything was agreed,” Lomachenko said through a translator during a recent conference call. “And Salido agreed to fight and there was already some sort of agreement made with Top Rank. But then, all of a sudden, it flipped around and now he was not gonna fight. But that’s life.”
HBO will televise the Lomachenko-Sosa fight as the main event of a “World Championship Boxing” doubleheader from The Theater at MGM National Harbor, a new casino & resort just outside Washington, D.C.
Mexico’s Salido (43-13-4, 30 KOs, 1 NC) defeated Lomachenko by split decision in just the second fight of Lomachenko’s pro career. Salido, 36, lost his WBO world featherweight title at the scale the day before that March 2014 bout in San Antonio because he weighed in at 128¼ pounds, 2¼ over the featherweight limit of 126.
Nearly three years later, Lomachenko admits having that Salido defeat on his record still bothers him. He hopes he gets a chance the fight Salido again, yet after this recent round of negotiations isn’t counting on a rematch taking place.
“I would like to fight Salido,” Lomachenko said. “But it doesn’t depend on me, so we will see how it’s gonna go.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
