Promoter Bob Arum is hugely excited about Vasyl Lomachenko, the incredibly talented former amateur sensation (perhaps one of the greatest amateur boxers in history at 396-1). Arum, who has seen it all in boxing over his almost 90 years, remains enthusiastic about the sport because of special fighters that come his way – and Arum says Lomachenko is very special.
Indeed, the Top Rank boss recently said Lomachenko is the best he’s seen in the sport since the incomparable Muhammad Ali. Arum has big plans for the reigning WBO super-featherweight champion. At just 6-1 and already a two-weight champion, the slick and wickedly powerful southpaw is a future superstar, says Arum. This Saturday’s defence against puncher Nicholas Walters could be looked at as a risky assignment for “Hi-Tech,” as Lomachenko is known, but it would be a massive upset if “The Axe Man” scored a win.
Should he get past Walters – and some odds have the champ listed as an 11-1 favourite to get the win – Lomachenko could even fight Manny Pacquiao; Arum’s biggest star of recent years. But would Pac-Man run the risk of being thrown to the wolves in such a fight? Would we see Lomachenko become the new star of boxing at the expense of a badly beaten Pacquiao? Is there any way a 38-year-old Pacquiao could beat Lomachenko, even if he would be the naturally bigger man in the fight?
Arum has spoken about this particular fight a few times, saying how he’d like to see it next year. According to a piece on Yahoo! Sports, Pacquaio will likely fight twice in 2017, and the second of these fights could be a super-fight with the 28-year-old Ukrainian.
“Lomachenko has a huge upside,” Arum said in promoting this Saturday’s Walters defence. “This is his second world title in as many divisions in seven pro fights. That has never happened before, and he is going to win more world titles as he goes up in weight. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that he and Manny could fight sometime next year. Lomachenko wants challenges and he is a tremendous talent.”
As good as Pacquiao looked against Jessie Vargas on November 5 – fast, full of energy and throwing plenty of leather – would fans expect him to beat Lomachenko, say at somewhere around the 135-pound range? Again, Pac-Man would be the bigger guy against Lomachenko, but would age, and Lomachenko’s own speed and power, along with his ambition and enthusiasm, be too much for the part-time fighter/politician?
Pacquiao would certainly need a full, and fully focused, training camp for this all-southpaw battle.