By Steve Kim
In the immediate aftermath of Vasyl Lomachenko's most recent display of boxing, where he made Nicholas Walters quit on his stool after seven rounds, there is a lot of discussions on who the reigning WBO 130-pound belt-holder will face next.
There was talk awhile ago of Lomachenko (7-1, 4KOs) facing Guillermo Rigondeaux (17-0, 11KOs), who like the Ukrainian had a legendary amateur career and won a world title early on in his pro career. And both boxers have won Olympic gold medals, twice.
So is that pairing a possibility heading into 2017?
Bob Arum, who's company Top Rank represents Lomachenko told BoxingScene.com on Monday afternoon:
"Listen, I'm building up Lomachenko because of his unbelievable ability to be a superstar and I'm not going to put him in a fight which he'll win easy but will be a snoozer, it will be a sh*t fight. I mean, you've got to put him in fights with a guy who's going to bust his balls to go after him," Arum said.
Rigondeaux is a consummate boxer who has gained a reputation as being a safety-first fighter.
"You can't put him in with a Rigondeaux who'll snooze him out," continued Arum, in speaking of Lomachenko. "I mean, it's a fight that really if you want to see an entertaining fight - don't want to see that fight."
A match-up that does interest Arum is Lomachenko once again facing Orlando Salido, who defeated 'Hi-Tech' in controversial fashion in what was his second pro fight back in March of 2013. Salido lost his WBO featherweight title on the scales and then landed numerous low blows (that were not penalized) during that contest, which was won by the Mexican.
"I would love for him to fight Salido," said Arum."That would be great because there's a storyline there. He's the only guy to beat him. Lomachenko in how many years has lost two fights, one in the amateurs and one in the professionals - he revenged a couple of times the loss in the amateurs and he would like nothing better than to avenge the loss to Salido."
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com
