By Keith Idec
If Vasiliy Lomachenko can become boxing’s fully unified lightweight champion, promoter Bob Arum anticipates a Lomachenko move back down to 130 pounds, perhaps lower.
Arum could even envision Lomachenko fighting Shakur Stevenson, the undefeated featherweight contender his company promotes. Stevenson (12-0, 7 KOs), the WBO’s No. 1 contender at 126 pounds, is expected to box No. 2-ranked Joet Gonzalez (23-0, 14 KOs) either November 2 or November 9 for the WBO 126-pound championship Oscar Valdez vacated last month.
Stevenson might not remain at featherweight for long, however, which means Lomachenko wouldn’t have to go all the way down to the 126-pound limit to fight the 2016 Olympic silver medalist.
Lomachenko, meanwhile, will remain at lightweight for at least one more fight. The Ukrainian southpaw, who won world titles at featherweight and junior lightweight, is expected to face the winner between IBF lightweight champ Richard Commey and Teofimo Lopez in his next fight, sometime early in 2020.
The 31-year-old Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs) already owns the WBA, WBC and WBO lightweight titles. He added the WBC belt Saturday night, when he defeated England’s Luke Campbell (20-3, 16 KOs) by unanimous decision in their 12-rounder at O2 Arena in London.
“After this fight, his next fight, or the big fight, will be for the IBF title [with] the winner of Commey-Lopez,” Arum told BoxingScene.com while in London for Lomachenko-Campbell. “That is as competitive a fight as we can make for Lomachenko. At that particular point, we’ll look around and see if there are any other lightweights left to make good fights with him. And if there isn’t, we’ll go back down to 130 and fight guys like Berchelt. Valdez is challenging Berchelt. Like ‘The Fighting Marine,’ [Jamel] Herring. Like Floyd’s kid, [Gervonta] Davis. Maybe [Tevin] Farmer, although I don’t think Farmer would. But again, maybe Farmer. And if necessary, we’ll go down to 126. You know, a big fight for [Lomachenko], which would be much more competitive right now than a fight with Devin Haney, is Shakur Stevenson, who I think is, in those weight categories, the best talent around.”
Arum’s company, Top Rank Inc., promotes Lomachenko, Stevenson and Herring (20-2, 10 KOs), who won the WBO junior lightweight championship May 25. Top Rank also promotes Brooklyn’s Lopez (14-0, 11 KOs), who is expected to challenge Ghana’s Commey (29-2, 26 KOs) on December 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Haney can become the mandatory challenger for Lomachenko’s WBC lightweight title by winning his next fight. Las Vegas’ Haney (22-0, 14 KOs) is scheduled to face Russia’s Zaur Abdullaev (11-0, 7 KOs) in a WBC 135-pound championship elimination match September 13 in The Theater at Madison Square Garden.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.