NEW YORK – Vasiliy Lomachenko likely will regret the curiously cautious approach he took to the first half of his fight against Teofimo Lopez for the rest of his life.
Lopez’s strong start obviously limited Lomachenko’s output to some degree during the first six rounds of their 12-round lightweight title fight in October 2020. Lomachenko had some difficulty dealing with Lopez’s speed and power early in their showdown, yet the three-division champion complied in essentially giving away some rounds before he picked up the pace and made the second half of their fight much more competitive.
The unique Ukrainian southpaw didn’t do enough to defeat his young, strong opponent, but he definitely deserved better than one round on judge Julie Lederman’s card (119-109) and seemingly more than the three rounds judge Steve Weisfeld scored for him (117-111). Judge Tim Cheatham scored four rounds for the two-time Olympic gold medalist (116-112).
That strange strategic mistake might not linger as the egregious error Lomachenko laments most, though, as it relates to his loss to Lopez. The three-division champion’s failure to demand a rematch clause in his contract for the Lopez fight has had a lasting effect on his career as well.
It wasn’t incumbent upon Lomachenko’s promoter, Bob Arum, to ensure that Lomachenko had a contractual right to an immediate rematch because his company, Top Rank Inc., represents Lopez, too. That was a win-win scenario for Top Rank, which left it up to Lomachenko and/or his manager, Egis Klimas, to demand a rematch clause.
Lomachenko (15-2, 11 KOs) didn’t seem concerned about a rematch clause when he was asked about it by krikya360.com in the days leading up to his fight with Lopez 13½ months ago at MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas. The former champion clearly was confident he was going to win, perhaps overconfident as it turns out.
Regardless, he had all the leverage entering negotiations for a fight with Lopez and clearly could’ve insisted upon a rematch clause. He was the established star and their lightweight title unification fight was voluntary for them, not a mandated match that would’ve prevented Lomachenko from demanding a guarantee for an immediate second fight if he lost.
Lopez desperately wanted to fight Lomachenko. While obviously not in a position to demand a rematch clause himself, the former IBF, WBA “super,” WBC “franchise” and WBO champion wouldn’t have walked away from their deal had Lomachenko required one.
Had Lomachenko secured a contractual right to a rematch, it would’ve protected him from languishing in the unenviable position he occupies today. Instead of ensuring an opportunity to regain his titles from Lopez in his following fight, Lomachenko left it up to Lopez.
Whatever you think of Lopez’s unwillingness to grant Lomachenko a rematch, Lomachenko’s lack of foresight has relegated one of the best boxers in the sport to facing big underdogs Lopez already defeated in back-to-back bouts.
Lomachenko looked impressive in stopping Japan’s Masayoshi Nakatani (19-2, 13 KOs) in the ninth round of his comeback from the Lopez loss June 26 at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. Lopez out-pointed Nakatani by large margins on all three scorecards in July 2019, though Lopez himself admitted that was far from his best performance.
Unfortunately for Lomachenko, beating Nakatani has led him to boxing an opponent on Saturday night that Lopez pummeled nearly two years ago in the very same ring at Madison Square Garden. Ghana’s Commey (30-3, 27 KOs), a former IBF lightweight champion, can punch and is one of the few accomplished lightweights who was willing to battle Lomachenko for a reasonable purse.
Nevertheless, the supremely skilled Lomachenko is listed as a 10-1 favorite for a reason. Lomachenko acknowledged during an interview with krikya360.com that Commey wasn’t exactly his first choice of opponents.
“Unfortunately, we’re in the game of boxing and what you want can’t happen every time,” Lomachenko said. “Of course, after I had my loss to Lopez, I wanted to fight him right away. Sometimes we can’t do it, and it’s not up to me what they want.”
Instead of an immediate rematch with Lopez, Lomachenko has basically been forced to waste what’s left of his physical prime competing in much lower-profile fights to stay busy because, without titles, why would top lightweights want to fight him? krikya360.com has been informed that Devin Haney’s handlers asked for $5 million for the WBC world lightweight champion to box Lomachenko before Top Rank finalized a deal with Commey.
That unrealistic purse request is an indication of how difficult it’ll be to entice top lightweights to fight Lomachenko, who will turn 34 in February, now that he has lost all his leverage.
The WBC and the WBO have ranked Lomachenko number one among their 135-pound contenders. Arum said Thursday that those organizations have indicated that they’ll make the Lomachenko-Commey winner the mandatory challenger for George Kambosos Jr. (20-0, 10 KOs), who essentially eliminated the possibility of Lomachenko battling Lopez again when he upset Lopez (16-1, 12 KOs) by split decision November 27 at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater.
If that happens, Kambosos won’t be required to fight Lomachenko next. The newly crowned champion will be allowed to fight at least once before he’d be obligated to make a mandatory defense because he has only owned his titles for less than two weeks.
That’ll leave Lomachenko’s handlers to find an opponent other than Kambosos for Lomachenko’s next fight, assuming he conquers Commey in the main event of ESPN’s four-fight telecast Saturday night (9 p.m. ET; 6 p.m. PT).
It won’t be Lopez, who is completely committed to moving up to the 140-pound limit for his next fight. Lomachenko stated Thursday he still wants to oppose Lopez again, but only if their rematch were to take place at the lightweight maximum of 135 pounds.
Haney (27-0, 15 KOs) and Gervonta Davis (26-0, 24 KOs) both would prefer to challenge Kambosos, who, while unbeaten and better than most people realized, isn’t as complicated to fight as Lomachenko.
Arum told krikya360.com a few weeks ago that he wants to make a Lomachenko-Shakur Stevenson bout, but Lomachenko contended Thursday that it would only occur at lightweight. Stevenson owns the WBO junior lightweight title and would prefer to battle Lomachenko within the 130-pound division.
Whomever Lomachenko boxes after facing Commey, maybe another convincing victory will lead him to a shot at Kambosos or someone else for the titles Lomachenko lost to Lopez. Of course, had Lomachenko simply demanded a rematch clause in his contract, when he had all the leverage, he already would’ve received his chance to reclaim all those belts.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.