Vasyl Lomachenko is back in action against the talented contender Jamaine ‘The Technician’ Ortiz this Saturday, October 29th on ESPN at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs) is intentionally taking on a high-caliber opponent for Saturday’s fight despite being out of the ring for the last ten months.
This is a must-win for the #1 WBC-ranked Lomachenko because he wants to challenge undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney for his four belts.
If Lomachenko loses to Ortiz, Haney will likely soon vacate and move up to 140 because he’s outgrown the division. He won’t wait around for Loma to work his way back into title contention.
The thing is, Haney might vacate anyway, even if Lomachenko wins, because it’s hard for him to make weight for the 135-lb division at this stage in his career.
If Haney gives up his belts, Lomachenko will go after one of the fragmented titles, possibly the WBC strap.
The 26-year-old Jamaine Ortiz (16-0-1, 8 KOs) sent former WBO super featherweight champion Jamel Herring into retirement with a one-sided 10 round unanimous decision win last May.
Beating a quality fighter like Herring shows the type of talent that Ortiz is. He’s clearly one of the better contenders in the 135-lb division. Just how good we don’t know yet, but we’ll find out on Saturday.
“First of all, there’s a reason for me being on this pound-for-pound list despite my losses. They don’t count the losses. They count on skills,” said Vasyl Lomacheko to the DAZN Boxing Show.
“The most disappointing fight and the fight that motivated me the most is my fight against Teofimo Lopez. Speaking about the most memorable fights, we’re talking about two fights in my career because they were difficult fights, and that’s why.
“The fight in Macau against a Thai boxer that I had to fight with an injured hand, and the fight against Linares when I had a shoulder injury.
“My goal to turn professional is to go into history. I was absolutely certain that Haney was going to win that first fight against Kambosos because his class and skill level is much higher than Kambosos.
“I heard those rumors as well,” said Lomachenko about Haney’s third fight of his three-fight deal with Top Rank will be against him. “I could not predict what would happen in that fight. I could never imagine that Kambosos could win,” said Lomachenko about Kambosos beating Teofimo Lopez.
“I was very much surprised by what happened in round one, and I believe that was the decisive round. That round paved the way for the entire fight. Kambosos muddied the waters for everyone.
“If we’re talking about a situation where I have to choose between fighting for the undisputed versus just getting a better fight. From that standpoint, I would definitely choose to fight for the undisputed to get the belts.
“If we’re talking about a different situation. where we’re past this, of course, I’d be interested in bigger fights.
“We can only guess,” said Lomachenko when asked who he believes is the best fighter between Shakur Stevenson, Devin Haney, and Gervonta Davis. “At the same time, I believe Shakur Stevenson is the best boxer, who has more chance of all three.
“The reason I say that is because when you watch the fights of Davis, you can see that he allows punches. When you see Devin Haney, the same thing.
“In his fight with Linares, he got hurt, while Shakur Stevenson doesn’t find himself in difficult situations like those fighters. It speaks about better defense, but we can only begin to answer this question when we fight each other,” said Lomachenko.
