By Keith Idec
Bob Arum still considers a rematch with Orlando Salido as the top option for Vasyl Lomachenko’s next fight.
Ukraine’s Lomachenko wants to avenge the lone loss on his professional record against the rugged Mexican that defeated him by split decision in March 2014. There is another fan-friendly fight Lomachenko and Arum are considering, though.
The Hall-of-Fame promoter told BoxingScene.com that a Lomachenko-Yuriorkis Gamboa bout is a realistic possibility for early in 2017.
“That’s the first thing we’re talking about,” Arum said regarding a Lomachenko-Salido rematch. “Also, there’s a possibility of him fighting Gamboa. That would be an interesting fight. Those are the two main possibilities.
“Lomachenko was at my house [in Beverly Hills last week] and he’s intrigued by a Gamboa fight. Either fight is a good fight.”
The Cuban-born Gamboa (25-1, 17 KOs) hasn’t fought since defeating Las Vegas’ Hylon Williams Jr. (16-3-1, 3 KOs) by unanimous decision in a 10-rounder a year ago in Verona, New York. The former three-division champion was supposed to box South Africa’s Malcolm Klassen (33-6-2, 17 KOs) on Saturday in Saint-Denis, Reunion, France, but according to published reports their fight was canceled once Klassen was arrested at his hotel on charges that he possessed performance-enhancing drugs (https://www.boxingscene.com/gamboa-fight-off-klassen-arrested-hotel-on-drug-charges--111867).
As for the Lomachenko-Salido rematch, Arum believes it was a mistake to allow the ambitious, confident Lomachenko (7-1, 5 KOs) to face the experienced, rule-bending Salido in just his second professional fight. Salido caused controversy the day before he met Lomachenko in San Antonio by weighing in at 128¼, 2¼ pounds higher than the contracted featherweight limit for what was supposed to be a 126-pound title fight.
The 36-year-old Salido (43-13-4, 30 KOs, 1 NC), repeatedly has stated his willingness to fight Lomachenko again. Salido also is interested in a rematch against fellow Mexican Francisco Vargas, with whom Salido engaged in an enthralling draw June 4 in Carson, California.
Vargas, however, won’t be available for a Salido rematch for much of 2017.
The unbeaten Vargas (23-0-2, 17 KOs), who owns the WBC world super featherweight championship, is set to meet interim WBO super featherweight title-holder Miguel Berchelt (30-1, 27 KOs), also of Mexico, in an HBO “Boxing After Dark” main event January 28 at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California. If Vargas wins and Japan’s Takashi Miura (30-3-2, 23 KOs), a former WBC super featherweight champion, defeats Mexico’s Miguel Roman (56-11, 43 KOs) in HBO’s co-feature that night, Vargas and Miura are contractually committed to a rematch of their action-packed November 2015 fight in Las Vegas that Vargas won by ninth-round knockout.
Lomachenko, meanwhile, is coming off sensational back-to-back performances in 2016.
He knocked out Puerto Rico’s Rocky Martinez (29-3-3, 17 KOs) to win the WBO super featherweight title June 11 in The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. The two-time Olympic gold medalist made a spectacular first defense of that championship November 26 in Las Vegas, where he dominated previously unbeaten Jamaican Nicholas Walters (26-1-1, 21 KOs) until Walters quit following the seventh round.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
