By Steve Kim
As of now, it looks like a showdown between WBA lightweight champion Jorge Linares and two-time Olympic gold medal winner Vasyl Lomachenko will not be taking place on May 12th due to a conflict involving dueling broadcasts on HBO and ESPN.
On the conflicted date, HBO is airing the re-broadcast of the Gennady Golovkin-Saul Alvarez pay-per-view bout from the week before.
Golden Boy Promotions, which is co-promoting Golovkin-Alvarez II, alongside a live fight on that night (reportedly Sadam Ali-Liam Smith) isn't keen on having Linares fight on another network at the same time.
With no Linares, the frontrunner to face Lomachenko is newly crowned WBO lightweight champ Ray Beltran.
Egis Klimas, who manages Lomachenko is taking it all in stride, telling BoxingScene.com during a media luncheon for Sergey Kovalev - "Look, anything that happens in this life is for a reason. So if Linares is not happening, how can I be disappointed? Linares is going to come later date or whatever, right how there is talks with (Ray) Beltran. Are we going to get Beltran, is Linares going to come back?"
Beltran - who like Lomachenko is promoted by Top Rank - recently won the vacant WBO lightweight title by out-pointing Paulus Moses.
"I'm sure we're going to have a solution, I'm sure we're going to have different solutions,'' continued Klimas, who says Lomachenko's career will proceed, regardless.
"I was told by Top Rank the date of May 12th is set up for Lomachenko and that's when we're going to be arriving for."
Lomachenko's next bout on that date will take place at the Madison Square Garden in New York.
"He's going to be coming next week back to the States and he's starting his camp and in a week or so we're going to have a name opponent who's going to be fighting. We'll look forward," said Klimas.
The stylish Ukrainian could be fighting up to three times in 2018."Of course,"stated Klimas,''that's the plan."
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com
