By Carlos Boogs, Ryan Burton
WBO super featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko (6-1, 4KOs) is making huge waves in boxing. The two-time Olympic gold medal winner, who many regard as one of the best amateur fighters of all time, is already a two-division world champion after seven pro fights.
Later tonight at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Lomachenko will defend his world title against unbeaten Nicholas Walters in an HBO televised main event.
If Lomachenko wins, there are a lot of options for him in 2017 - including a pay-per-view showdown with WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38KOs).
Bob Arum - who promotes both fighters under the Top Rank banner - believes that match can be done at a catch-weight between lightweight and junior welterweight. Arum believes Pacquiao could get down as low as the lightweight limit of 135 if he wanted to.
Lomachenko moved up to the super featherweight limit of 130-pounds earlier this year.
Pacquiao's head trainer, Freddie Roach, is not on board with doing that fight at lightweight. He wants the fight to take place at junior welterweight.
Roach's position doesn't sit well with Lomachenko, who feels a move to 140 - a full ten-pounds - would be place him at a big disadvantage in the fight.
He's very willing to fight Pacquiao in 2017 - if they are able to reach an agreement on a fighting weight that works for both sides. Lomachenko is willing to budge a few pounds by meeting Pacquiao somewhere in the middle.
"It would be a very, very big challenge in my career if that fight can be made. But now the question is, which weight class would that fight be made in? If it would be at 140... look at me, where do you see 140 pounds? But, if it can be done at 135 or somewhere in-between - I think that [fight] is very, very possible," Lomachenko said.
