Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum has no intention of staging a long negotiation for a potential unification between newly crowned WBO lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko (11-1, 9 KOs) and WBC beltholder Mikey Garcia (38-0, 30 KOs).
This past Saturday night, Lomachenko moved up to 135-pounds and stopped Jorge Linares in the tenth round to capture the WBO belt at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Lomachenko because a three division world champion with the victory.
Garcia is rumoured to be facing IBF champion Robert Easter Jr. in a unification being targeted for the summer.
Lomachenko could take on Ray Beltran, who holds the WBO belt, in August. Both Loma and Beltran are promoted by Top Rank. A win could set up a potential four-belt unification with Garcia later this year.
However, Arum is concerned about how the negotiations would go because he says Garcia is always asking for a lot of money and always wants a fight to be completed on his terms.
Also taking into account, Garcia sued Top Rank over his promotional contract in 2014 - and the legal battle lasted for two years. And Garcia is also very loyal to Showtime, while Lomachenko is contractually tied to ESPN.
"With a Mikey Garcia [fight], it becomes like the second coming of Mayweather-Pacquiao," the 86-year-old Arum admitted.
"The negotiations will go on - I may be 90-years-old by the time negotiations finish. I'm tired of that. Whoever's the best available, whichever makes the most sense, that’s what we're gonna go after.
"If [Garcia] wants to fight, let him call me and I'll give him a number. If he doesn't like the number - f*** it - I ain't negotiating! It's because of the way he negotiates. If he's loyal to Showtime and they've been good to him, let him be loyal to Showtime - just don't bother me."
