The Oct. 17 fight between WBA/WBO lightweight titleholder Vasiliy Lomachenko and IBF titleholder Teofimo Lopez is set, with an official announcement coming tomorrow.
Top Rank posted photos of the fighters signing their contracts:
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Stay tuned for the #LomaLopez official details tomorrow … and more pic.twitter.com/EDWdtgV4nX
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) September 7, 2020
The 32-year-old Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KO) and the 23-year-old Lopez (15-0, 12 KO) make for a fascinating No. 1 vs No. 2 matchup at 135 pounds. Some believe Lomachenko, at this point, will still simply be too sharp, and may even flat-out school the younger fighter, akin to what we saw when Canelo Alvarez stepped up against Floyd Mayweather in 2013. Others believe Lopez, a natural lightweight, could prove too big for Lomachenko when you add in his speed and sensational power.
You can make a reasonable argument for a lot of ways this fight might go. And both of these guys are extremely confident going in that they’re going to win. It’s a genuinely rare sort of matchup; we don’t see marketable young guns like Lopez take the shot against an established veteran elite like Lomachenko all that often. With the fact that it will air on normal ESPN and not pay-per-view, I dare say it’s the rare fight everyone is looking forward to seeing.
