Boxing could have a new undisputed champion within the next four months. Mike Coppinger reports that the lightweight unification between Vasiliy Lomachenko and Teofimo Lopez “is targeted for” May 30th and will “likely” headline an ESPN pay-per-view. No word yet as to the location or the price.
Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KO) currently holds the WBA “super,” WBO, and WBC “franchise” titles at 135 pounds. He claimed the first belt in his division debut with an impressive body shot knockout of Jorge Linares, added the second with a decision over Jose Pedraza his next time out, and was all set to challenge Richard Commey for the Ghanaian’s IBF belt before Commey withdrew with a hand injury.
Lomachenko instead dealt with mandatory challenger Anthony Crolla and subsequently outclassed Luke Campbell to win the vacant WBC belt formerly held by Mikey Garcia.
Lopez (15-0, 12 KO), who opened the year with brutal knockouts of Diego Magdaleno and Edis Tatli looked uncharacteristically mortal in his decision win over the towering Masayoshi Nakatani in July. That ultimately proved an outlier, however, as he demolished the iron-tough Commey five months later.
You could argue that this isn’t a true unification due to Lomachenko not holding the regular WBC title, but then you’d be a pedant whose only use is as a bar trivia ringer. It’s a terrific clash before two of the best at the weight and we’ll keep you posted as it develops.
Source: badlefthook.com
