By Keith Idec
OXON HILL, Maryland – Vasyl Lomachenko’s manager wants him to move up to lightweight for his next fight.
Egis Klimas revealed following Lomachenko’s nine-round domination of Jason Sosa on Saturday night at MGM National Harbor that he wants Lomachenko to travel to England to meet Manchester’s Terry Flanagan in his next fight. Flanagan (33-0, 13 KOs), the WBO world lightweight champion, out-pointed Russia’s Petr Petrov (38-5-2, 19 KOs) earlier Saturday in Manchester, Flanagan’s hometown, and has said he would like to face Ukraine’s Lomachenko next.
If Lomachenko (8-1, 5 KOs) can add a world title in a third weight class by defeating Flanagan, Klimas would prefer for him to defend the WBO world lightweight championship once in the United States before pursuing a showdown with unbeaten WBC world lightweight champion Mikey Garcia. According to that timetable, a Lomachenko-Garcia fight wouldn’t take place until sometime in 2018, assuming both boxers continue to win.
Regardless, remaining at 130 pounds doesn’t appear to interest Lomachenko or his handlers, not even for a rematch with Mexico’s Orlando Salido (43-13-4, 30 KOs, 1 NC). Salido beat Lomachenko by split decision in Lomachenko’s second professional fight three years ago in San Antonio.
“There are not 130-pound champions that [will] fight him,” Klimas said, referring mostly to WBA champ Jezreel Corrales (21-1, 8 KOs, 1 NC) and IBF champ Gervonta Davis (17-0, 16 KOs). “The answer already has been, ‘No, no, no.’ So probably I would like for him to step into the 135 division. If we can go to fight in England – Flanagan won [Saturday] against Petrov – and if we can, we’ll go get that fight. If he will win that fight in England, then I would prefer for him to then defend his title once here in the U.S. to build a fight with Mikey Garcia.
“If it were up to me, that’s what I would like to do. [Lomachenko-Garcia] would be an interesting thing for the sport, an interesting thing for the fans. Not just for me, because I see the picture and it would be challenging, and it would be interesting for TV, for fans, for boxing.”
Garcia (36-0, 30 KOs) also is interested in facing Flanagan next in what would be a lightweight title unification fight. The Oxnard, California, native would prefer, though, to secure a 135-pound championship unification match with WBA champion Jorge Linares (42-3, 27 KOs), which would free up Flanagan for a fight against Lomachenko.
Flanagan defeated Petrov by unanimous decision Saturday at Manchester Arena. The unbeaten British southpaw won their 12-rounder by wide margins on all three scorecards (120-108, 118-110, 116-112).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
