By Steve Kim

On December 8th, WBA lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko attempts to unify his title versus WBO belt-holder Jose Pedraza, at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.

If Lomachenko should come out victorious as expected, the fight that will be clamored for in 2019 will be a showdown versus WBC/IBF champion Mikey Garcia.

So what are the realistic possibilities of that particular match-up coming fruition?

Bob Arum, who promotes Lomachenko said on Tuesday afternoon - "I have no idea, I have no idea. I mean, we've made ourselves plain and we talk to the press. Until you talk to 'the cancer', who knows? If 'the cancer' has the power to block whatever fight is offered to his fighter, than obviously it can't happen, right?

"If you have 'cancer' you can't operate normally."

Arum is obviously referring to one Al Haymon, who advises Garcia and host other boxers under the Premiere Boxing Champions banner.

For the most part, PBC boxers have rarely ventured outside this umbrella to face other marquee boxers. Now, with the PBC having control of two platforms(Showtime and FOX) it's unlikely that there will be any cross pollination of bouts in the near future.

Which means that a bout between WBO welterweight titlist, Terence Crawford (who is aligned with Top Rank, which has an exclusive deal with ESPN) and IBF belt-holder, Errol Spence (who is advised by Haymon) will be unlikely.

"Absolutely," stated Arum, "it's 'the cancer'. With any of his fighters. And let me tell you something, the (Manny) Pacquiao-(Floyd) Mayweather fight would not have happened if Les Moonves hadn't told Stephen Espinoza that he was stopping on boxing at Showtime till that fight was made.

"Did you know that? Well, I'm telling you that."

(krikya360.com reached out to PBC to get a comment but did not receive one.)

Steve Kim is the news editor for krikya360.com