Lightweight champ and current pound-for-pound king (in the opinion of most) Vasyl Lomachenko could be headed to the UK for his next fight. In fact, “Loma” will be boxing in either London or Hull if promoter Eddie Hearn gets what he wants. As fans may have read, Lomachenko has been ordered by the WBC to fight Britain’s Luke Campbell for their vacant 135 pound belt – and Hearn is excited about the fight and he is already at work trying to secure a venue.
Speaking with IFL TV, the promoter said he hopes to get the fight done in the UK in August:
“Providing we can make a sensible deal, we’ll do that fight in the UK,” Hearn stated. “We have to decide whether we go O2 Arena (in London) or Hull – the KCOM Stadium, we’d do 30,000 [fans] there. I don’t think Lomachenko knows where Hull is, but I don’t think he’s that bothered by where we’d go. It’s a really good fight and I want it for August.”
Lomachenko has spoken about his desire to fight in a big UK stadium. Excited by the big, big crowds that fill these arenas, Lomachenko wants a piece of the action. If he does fight over here in the UK, Lomachenko will join all-time greats such as Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, Thomas Hearns, Mike Tyson and Marco Antonio Barrera as legends who opted to leave the U.S behind, for one night at least, and fight in the U.K. It would of course be great for British boxing to have the supremely gifted southpaw do his stuff here.
But can Campbell (who lives in Hull; hence the possibility of Hearn hosting the fight there) give Lomachenko a real test? Lomachenko faced a British fighter last time out, and we all saw the quite brutal fate a game but over-matched Anthony Crolla suffered. Campbell, 20-2(16) and a southpaw himself, may or may not be better than Crolla; he may or may not be better able to give Lomachenko a far stiffer challenge. We will soon see, either in the UK or at a venue in the U.S if Hearn is unable to make a deal.