WBO super featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko (9-1, 7 KOs) was holding his nose as he discussed his thoughts on the fighting style of Guillermo Rigondeaux (17-0, 11 KOs).
The Cuban stylist, who holds the WBA super bantamweight title at 122-pounds, is moving up by two full weight divisions to challenge Lomachenko for his belt at 130-pounds.
The ESPN televised contest will match two amateur boxing legends - with each boxer winning a gold medal in two Olympic games.
Lomachenko plans to take the fight to Rigondeaux from the very start. The one thing Lomachenko wants to do is make things very exciting.
After reviewing some of Rigondeaux's fights, he felt they were very boring in nature and that's one thing that he wants to avoid when they meet each other in the ring.
"I need to make this fight very interesting, very fun, because his fights are very boring. I need to change this. One day before the fight, I sleep too much, I eat, drink, rest and focus on the fight and think about my strategy. I can't explain right now [what I'll do in the fight to make it exciting], but you will see after December 9th who has the better style," Lomachenko said.
The fight takes place on Saturday, December 9 at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, which has been sold out for nearly two months. It and it will be televised live on ESPN at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT. There will be a four-bout telecast that will end Lomachenko vs. Rigondeaux. The entire card will stream live on the ESPN App., beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT
The televised undercard will feature two-time Irish Olympian Michael Conlan (4-0, 4 KOs), Christopher Diaz (21-0, 13 KOs) and Casey Ramos (24-1, 6 KOs) for the vacant NABO junior lightweight title, 2016 U.S. Olympic silver medalist Shakur Stevenson (3-0, 1 KO), Mikaela Mayer (2-0, 2 KOs) taking on former IWBF bantamweight world champion, two-time world heavyweight title challenger Bryant Jennings (20-2, 11 KOs), and Jose Gonzalez (8-0-1, 2 KOs).
