By Steve Kim
There has been talk of a showdown between Top Rank stablemates Vasyl Lomachenko (10-1, 8 KOs) and Manny Pacquiao (59-7-2, 38 KOs).
For the time being, this fight will not be happening as Lomachenko's father/trainer, Anatoly, is against his son moving up directly from super lightweight (130-pounds) all the way up to the junior welterweight limit of 140-pounds.
Word is that Lomachenko (who is currently the WBO 130-pound titlist) will be moving up to lightweight soon.
Pacquiao, last fought on July 1st of 2017, when he traveled over to Australia and was upset over twelve rounds by Jeff Horn for the WBO welterweight title before a crowd of 51,000 at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.
But if and when that Lomachenko fight is made - Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, believes that is a winnable fight for his man.
"Yes," stated Roach to BoxingScene.com, "but the thing is we need a real good training camp and we need him to get out of being a senator for a little while. I said,'Manny, this is too tough a sport to have another job.
"You've got to concentrate and be really, really prepared for this fight and you have to be aggressive in this fight because [Lomachenko] does have great footwork but if you press him hard enough and so forth.
"You take that game away from him and he's beatable."
Lomachenko's ESPN televised return is slated to take place on a date in April, and that bout may or may not take place at 135-pounds.
Pacquiao's return is also being worked out for the coming months. Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum has mentioned the possibility of placing him on the same April ESPN card where Terence Crawford will get his mandatory crack at Horn for the WBO title. Crawford vs. Horn is being targeted at the moment for April 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.