Vasily Lomachenko finally spoke up on Thursday, five days after his loss to Teofimo Lopez last Saturday, and he wanted to apologize to his fans. Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KOs) says he’d like a rematch with Lopez 16-0, 12 KOs), but that’s up to him if he wants to give him one.
The former three-division world champion Lomachenko lost to Teofimo by a 12 round unanimous decision last Saturday in “The Bubble” at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The judges didn’t have it close with their wide scores of 116-112, 117-111, and 119-108.
Lomachenko admits that it was difficult to get close enough to Lopez to throw punches because of his size and reach. It was also hard for Lomachenko because of his preexisting right-shoulder injury, which he aggravated in the second round.
Lomachenko wasn’t able to throw punches without pain in his right shoulder, and that effectively bottled up his offense until in the 8th, when he fought through the pain to launch a late comeback.
“It is always challenging to comment on something right after the fight. I would like to watch the fight first and then say something,” said Lomachenko to 112 Ukraine.
“Getting closer was quite a challenge: the size, the reach played a huge role.”
After the fight, Lomachenko said he wanted to go back home and watch the match to draw a conclusion about his performance. He’s changed his tune and is no longer saying that he thinks he won the fight.
