No Lomachenko-Walters fight for now, says manager
Earlier this year one of the most talked about fights in boxing was a featherweight unification between Vasyl Lomachenko and Nicholas Walters.
Both had interim fights that were thought to be a prelude to meeting in the fall.
Lomachenko took care of his part of the equation by stopping Gamalier Rodriguez on the coveted undercard of Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao in May. In mid June, Walters fought former amateur nemesis Miguel Marriaga. Although the Jamaican won, he lost his WBA crown on the scales when he came in over the 126-pound weight limit.
With that in mind, is the plan to still have the two best featherweights in the world duke it out later this year?
“Walters is not interesting for Lomachenko, as he lost his title on scale,” Egis Klimas, Lomachenko‘s manager, told RingTV.com. “He did not make weight. We are not interested [in] preparing for the bout and not knowing if opponent going to make weight and [then] going into ring with welterweight (On the night of the Marriaga fight Walters weighed in at the welterweight limit).”
Of course, the two-time Olympic gold medalist also fought an over-the-weight Orlando Salido in his second pro outing and has doubtlessly learned from that experience.
Klimas didn’t rule the fight out further down the road: “The day will come when Lomachenko will move to 130-pound division and the bout with Walters can be made.”
So where does that leave the uber-talented Ukrainian?
“[The] next bout for him possibility according to Bob Arum is in Dubai sometime [in] November,” he said. “As far as opponents, [the] matchmakers at Top Rank are looking [at] all possibilities.
“[The] problem is Vasyl wants to fight only champions at 126 pounds and [there are] not many available to step in the ring with him.”
Lomachenko bested Gary Russell Jr. last summer; since then Russell has won the WBC belt but is across the street with Al Haymon, making the fight a difficult proposition.
In May, Klimas brought another of his clients, Evgeny Gradovich, to the U.K. to defend his IBF featherweight title against Lee Selby. The Welshman out-boxed the Russian before a clash of heads in the eighth round brought the fight to an early conclusion, with Selby taking the title with a technical decision.
Klimas didn’t rule out a second trip across the pond for one of his fighters.
“If we will hear an offer from U.K. to fight Lee Selby, of course we will look at it.”
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