By Keith Idec
A pair of impressive performances against former world champions made Vasyl Lomachenko a “Fighter of the Year” candidate for 2016.
Lomachenko was pleased with what he accomplished last year, when he knocked out Rocky Martinez with a vicious combination to win the WBO world super featherweight championship and made then-undefeated Nicholas Walters quit in first title defense. But if 2017 is to become an even better year for him, the Ukrainian southpaw feels he’ll have to fight more than twice.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist will fight for the first time this year Saturday night. The heavily favored Lomachenko (7-1, 5 KOs) is set to defend his WBO world super featherweight championship against Jason Sosa (20-1-4, 15 KOs) in the main event of HBO’s “World Championship Boxing” tripleheader from Oxon Hill, Maryland.
“I was always for fighting three, four times a year,” Lomachenko said during a conference call. “I am ready to fight. I want to fight three, four times a year looking forward. Sometimes it doesn’t just depend on me. It depends on opponents, on the dates, on the TV, on the promoter. But I’m looking forward, maybe, this year to fight at least three times.”
After making his pro debut in October 2013, the 29-year-old Lomachenko fought three times in 2014, twice in 2015 and twice last year.
He had hoped that his first fight this year would’ve come against Mexico’s Orlando Salido or Panama’s Jezreel Corrales. Salido dealt Lomachenko his lone professional defeat in the form of a split decision three years ago in San Antonio.
Negotiations with Salido (43-13-4, 30 KOs, 1 NC) and Corrales (21-1, 8 KOs, 1 NC), who owns the WBA’s super championship at 130 pounds, didn’t result in deals, though. That’s when Lomachenko’s promoters at Top Rank Inc. turned to Sosa, who held a version of the WBA’s super featherweight title until he was stripped of it earlier this year.
If Lomachenko defeats Sosa on Saturday night at MGM National Harbor and continues to have trouble landing 130-pound fights against Salido, Corrales or another title-holder, he’ll move up to lightweight later this year. Fights against WBC world lightweight champion Mikey Garcia (36-0, 30 KOs) and WBA world lightweight champion Jorge Linares (42-3, 27 KOs) would be particularly appealing for Lomachenko within the 135-pound division.
“If the things are gonna go like the way it’s going today – everybody’s running from [me], not fighting me, I will be forced to go to 135,” Lomachenko said. “I hope the guys at 135 are gonna be standing up and coming to fight.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
