By Steve Kim

Coming off his May 12th victory over Jorge Linares, newly crowned WBA lightweight titlist Vasiliy Lomachenko was slated to return on August 25th on ESPN.

The target scenario was a unification with WBO lightweight champion Ray Beltran.

But those plans have been scuttled as it turns out that Lomachenko suffered a torn right labrum in the early rounds of that fight.

Lomachenko will be undergoing surgery on Wednesday in Los Angeles.

"He's hurt and it bothers him a lot but tomorrow it's going to be fine," said Egis Klimas, who manages the highly regarded Ukrainian who has captured three major world titles in just a dozen fights.

According to Klimas, Lomachenko had a recurring problem with his shoulder popping in and out - ''but probably this fight in the second round his shoulder popped out of place, tore up the labrum and then got back into place."

When asked about the severity of the ailment, Klimas told BoxingScene.com - "the doctor even said he was lucky to continue and finish the fight. So it's pretty serious."

Lomachenko suffered his first career knockdown in the bout, when Linares caught him with a short right hand in the sixth round. However, Lomachenko regrouped and then stopped Linares in the tenth round with a well placed shot to the body.

Top Rank is going to reschedule his next fight, provided everything goes as planned with his recovery, for the fourth quarter of 2018.

"Obviously he won't be ready for August 25th but if all goes well with rehab Lomachenko will return by the end of the year,'' said Carl Moretti, the V.P. of Boxing Operations for Top Rank, who noted that they are still planning an ESPN broadcast on that night.

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.