By Keith Idec
Manny Pacquiao could be presented with a much more profitable option for 2017 if Floyd Mayweather Jr. comes out of retirement for a rematch.
Regardless, promoter Bob Arum said again Monday that he’d like to make a Pacquiao-Vasyl Lomachenko fight sometime in 2017. Ukraine’s Lomachenko (6-1, 4 KOs) first must pass a difficult test Saturday night, when he’ll defend the WBO world super featherweight title against unbeaten Jamaican contender Nicholas Walters (26-0-1, 21 KOs) at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas (HBO; 10:35 p.m. ET).
If the favored Lomachenko overcomes Walters, Arum emphasized that Lomachenko would fight at least once more before a fight against Pacquiao would be seriously discussed. Arum’s company, Top Rank Inc., promotes Pacquiao and Lomachenko.
“He has a huge upside,” Arum said Monday as part of a conference call with reporters. “This is the second world title [Lomachenko has won] in seven professional fights. Never happened before. And he’s gonna win other world titles as he goes up in weight.
“And there’s gonna be very, very interesting guys for him to fight. I mean, it’s beyond the realm of possibility that he and Manny could fight sometime next year. Vasyl Lomachenko wants challenges. And as I say, he’s a tremendous, tremendous talent. So his upside is enormous. And as a lot of people are watching him, not just boxing fans, because he is such an unbelievable performer – and I’ve had a lot of people who are not really that into boxing, who have seen him whether it’s on YouTube or on HBO, and have said what an unbelievable talent he is.”
The 28-year-old Lomachenko, a southpaw who won gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, would have to move up from 130 pounds to oppose the Philippines’ Pacquiao (59-6-2, 38 KOs). Arum and Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer, have said Pacquiao, the WBO world 147-pound champion, could get down to the lightweight limit of 135 pounds for a fight against Lomachenko.
It seems more likely, particularly because Pacquiao clearly is the ‘A’ side in a Lomachenko equation, that Lomachenko would need to move up to at least 140 pounds to get a shot at Pacquiao, who’ll turn 38 next month.
“Yes, of course I would like to fight Pacquiao,” Lomachenko said later during the conference call. “But not the next fight.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
