Lomachenko: Teofimo holds my belt

Unified lightweight world champion Vasiliy Lomachenko is riding out the COVID-19 pandemic in his native Ukraine, but the three-weight kingpin is chomping at the bit to get his hands on the division’s leading names, including IBF world champion Teofimo Lopez, WBC world champion Devin Haney and Gervonta “Tank” Davis.

Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs) has not fought since last August’s unanimous decision victory over Luke Campbell in London. He has sat back and taken notice of Lopez (15-0, 12 KOs), the Brooklyn-born prodigy who has been outspoken in his desire to fight the pound-for-pound Picasso.

This is what Lomachenko had to say in an exclusive interview with Top Rank’s Crystina Poncher…
On the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ukraine

“The situation as of this moment is from Monday, there will be very limited time to go outside. You will have to be in your house. You can’t gather more than two or three people. The situation is like you can only take your dog out for a walk or go out for something very serious. Other than that, you have to sit at home. You can’t even walk with your kids outside. Everyone will be on lockdown. This will go on until April 24 starting on Monday.”

On staying in shape at home in Ukraine

“I have a gym {at my house}, and of course I’m still training because it’s my job. Nobody knows when we can start. I always have to be in shape. I have to be ready always.”

On his feelings when he found out the tentative date of May 30 for the Lopez fight was postponed

“Of course, I was disappointed a little bit, but everything that’s happening {with self-quarantines} is happening for the better. The most important thing is for all the people on this planet to get back and get healthy and everything will go back to normal.”

On whether he thinks Lopez is ready for the sport’s elite

“I really think he’s a good boxer. He’s a top fighter. He’s young, he’s hungry, he has big power, and I want this fight. He’s a world champion, and he holds my belt. It’s IBF title.”

On whether he sees the Lopez fight ending in a knockout

“Nobody knows. It’s very unpredictable. Nobody can predict what is going to happen, how it’s going to happen. And the people are talking about which round they are going to knock somebody out or stop somebody. I am getting very, very interested. Now, I want to see {the fight}.”

On what makes the Lopez matchup interesting

“The interesting thing for me, it will be to look into his eyes and his father’s eyes and see their reaction {after the fight}.”

On his most memorable moment from fighting Luke Campbell in London

“The most exciting moment I remember from my trip to the UK is probably when we went on the top of the O2 Arena, and I saw all of London. I could see it and then the very next day I was the champion of that arena. That was the most memorable moment for me.”

Word association when Lomachenko hears the following names:

Teofimo Lopez Sr.

“I can’t say that. It wouldn’t look good. I was raised differently.

“{He is a} good father.”

Oleksandr Usyk

“Best friend.”

Gervonta “Tank” Davis

“Power.”

Floyd Mayweather

“Boxing IQ.”

Bob Arum

“Best promoter.”

Fan Questions

Any concern over the long layoff?

“Yes, of course. You have to be active all the time. You have to be training a lot in the downtime between fights. Right now, I am relaxing more. I will need to spend more time training. I will need to spar more and do more work.”

If you could fight any boxer from any era to give you the best fight, who would you want to fight?

“Of course I would like to fight somebody who is undefeated, who has a good history, who has a big name. I think the most interesting name for me to fight would be Floyd Mayweather.”

What do you think of Teofimo’s shoulder roll and catch-and-shoot counterpunching style?

“It is not an easy type of fighting. It is not an easy style. It is easier to fight attacking fighters who are coming forward. It’s much easier. This type of counterpuncher is more difficult to fight. The winner will be who has the better boxing IQ. But that style with the shoulder, I think I know what I have to do to win.”

Do you think that Gervonta Davis will fight you?

“Right now, I don’t think he’s going to fight me. He might want to fight me, but his promoters are not going to let him. Aside from him, that weight class is getting very interesting. We have a lot of good names in the weight class. Not {just} the champions, but they are in the rankings. So I think it’s a hard weight division.”

Do you want to stay at lightweight?

“It’s unpredictable. If we are going to be sitting here for one year longer, who is going to be coming out and in what weight class will they be?”

What about the Instagram back-and-forth with Devin Haney?

“Yes, DAZN posted something about Haney, and he said he would knock me out. So that is why I answered him, ‘Hey, listen, are you serious?’ He has not fought anybody and now he is saying he is going to knock me out? I said, ‘No problem, let’s do it.’ Then he answered me right away saying, ‘Yes, we can do it.’ I said, ‘OK, I am ready.’ He knows I am ready. I think he is ready, and we can give the fight for the fans that everybody wants. That is why I mentioned before that this is a very interesting weight class with big names and good names coming to the weight class.”

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    • I like your sentiment but “no problem” is a bit harsh, considering that Lopez is an excellent and feared fighter. Would they fight today, I think that Loma would pull off the W but it would definitely not be a walk in the park.

  • Lomanchenko is also getting older. All these guys are getting an older loma.

    • I agree with Whetto.
      Everyone sees Loma as the top dog and I get it, HE IS.. BUT age catches you when u least expect it. Of the names mentioned, people wld be delusional if they think any of them will be an easy fight for Loma. Those r some tough ass dudes

  • With this situation taking months, I don’t see Lomachenko fighting Lopez or Haney, both are having troubles making 135. After the pandemic 140 its going to be a bit hellish with Ramirez, Taylor, Prograis, Haney, Lopez, Garcia and few more to guys

  • Loma shows his true self by not being afraid of anyone and accepting any challenge in front of him. Win or lose, he’s a class act.

    As far as the “pandemic” goes – the amount of misinformation about this subject was to be expected but it still stunning. What is painful is the fact that very few still understand the issue in depth. Most are too paralyzed by the massive global propaganda machine that sells us very misleading statistics.

    No one on the planet knows exactly how many people have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, and therefore no can possibly know the exact mortality rate. The leading virologists and epidemiologists on the planet are clear about one thing: that tens or even hundreds of millions are already infected, and that the actual mortality rate can’t possible be over 1% – a similar percentage like common flu deaths = approx. 500k people a year.

    What most people also fail to understand is the difference between having had SARS-CoV-2 *in the system* at the time of death, or whether it was the *actual cause* of death. HUGE difference. (The first European statistics already show that the vast majority of people who are known as “corona victims” died from other causes). 82% of all infected people have no or mild symptoms. The vast majority of the world’s population will eventually get infected, which is the only way to ever get immune. At this point in time there is no clear evidence even that a single person with a perfectly healthy immune system (in case that even exists) has died so far from Covid-19.

    What most people also don’t know is that we have approx. 360 trillion (!) viruses in our body and a healthy immune system can handle ALL of them, incl. SARS-CoV-2. There were/are other corona viruses that were/are by far more dangerous.

    Most don’t want rational advice in life, but for those who do: the best one can do to protect one’s self against this or any other virus is to boost one’s immune system by being in fresh air, sunshine and by taking natural i.s. boosters. In other words, take good care of one’s immune health. At the same time, avoid everything that weakens/compromises our immune health, e.g. stress, environmental pollution, low quality foods, overuse of antibiotics, trusting the mainstream media (which sole purpose at the moment is to instill fear), etc.

    Last not least, for every $100 the U.S. Gov’t spends on the war machine, it invests only a few Cents into healthcare. For every 100k people, we only have 10 free beds in our emergency units. In summary: no adequate health care; not even a basic understanding of immune health; hospitals that are not set up to deal with contagious diseases and therefore become sling shots for Covid-19…but we all agree that it must be best to run the global economy into the ground. Not everyone’s economy really, just the economy that affects the poor and middle class. When its all over, corporate giants will be happy to buy up as many businesses as possible for pennies, and big Pharma will manage to make obscene profits with those afraid of a virus…that may not even have killed a single person with excellent immune health.

  • Lopez hasn’t really accomplished a lot. He’s only beat one other undefeated fighter and that record 18-0 2x fights ago was padded to say the least. It’s a good idea taking on a lion before he gets in deep waters and I expect a decent fight without a lot of fireworks, Loma cruises 116-112. The Money team is obviously trying to make the fight happen, I think he’s trolling right there. Tank vs Loma will be the biggest fight at 135 in quite some time. Hopefully it happens early 2021

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