Two days after an unsuccessful bid for undisputed* lightweight supremacy against Teofimo Lopez, Vasiliy Lomachenko underwent surgery for a damaged right shoulder. He “won’t be able to resume boxing activities until late January.”
“Hi-Tech’s” surgeon, Dr. ElAttrache, tells Yahoo Sports that he’d previously treated Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KO) for a bruised rotator cuff upon his arrival to the U.S. “roughly six weeks ago.” Post-fight examination revealed chipped cartilage, which caused a hemorrhagic thickened bursitis and left Lomachenko in pain when he threw his right hook.
Though this is the same shoulder that Lomachenko dislocated against Jorge Linares in 2018, Dr. ElAttrache is confident he’ll make a full recovery.
The things we did for him after the first surgery made him pain-free and his shoulder stable enough that he could go and win a couple of championships after that surgery,” ElAttrache said. “I wouldn’t expect he’d have any limitation after this one for what we were able to do. Not all repeat surgeries have a worse prognosis.”
Lomachenko was uncharacteristically passive throughout the first half of the fight, leading to rampant speculation over whether it was a poor gameplan, a result of Lopez’s (16-0, 12 KO) own efforts, or something else entirely. I have to say, all credit in the world to Lomachenko for never mentioning the issue, reportedly not even to Bob Arum.
