Vasily Lomachenko 14-2, 10 KOs) sees Teofimo Lopez as the true undisputed lightweight champion after beating him last October.
Lomachenko sees as politics in why Teofimo (16-0, 12 KOs) isn’t viewed as the undisputed four-belt champion because he should be after his win.
With that said, Lomachenko says he’d like to be given a rematch with Teofimo, but he and his dad Teofimo Sr don’t want the fight.
According to Lomachenko, they know what would happen if they fought him again. In other words, Loma would beat Teofimo and mess up all the money he was raking in.
Lomachenko says he thinks WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney got away with illegal holding in his win over Jorge Linares on May 29th.
The referee took a hands-off approach to police Haney’s excessive holding after being hurt in the 10th. Lomachenko saw it as cheating by Haney, and he feels the outcome of his fight with Linares would have been different if the referee had penalized him.
“I don’t want to ask him about a rematch because he knows it, and his father knows it,” said Lomachenko to SnowqueenLA when asked if he’ll ask for a rematch with Teofimo Lopez.
“It was a very close fight, and they know what would happen if they gave me a rematch. That’s why they want to go up to the next weight class [140].
“My goal still is to be the undisputed world champion [at 135],” said Lomachenko. To me, Teofimo Lopez is the undisputed world champion because I fought with him, and I hold two belts.
“I won WBC belt with Campbell. He won the fight with me and took three. The IBF belt he had, so he’s the undisputed world champion, no question.
“It’s WBC politics,” said Lomachenko when asked about WBC 135-lb champion Devin Haney. “I don’t care.”
Teofimo Lopez Jr and his father Teofimo Sr have been quite transparent about their lack of interest in giving Lomachenko a rematch.
What’s interesting is how easy to understand their true rationale for not wanting to fight Lomachenko again.
I think they clearly know that the chances are high that they’ll lose the fight to Loma, which is why they adamantly refuse to give him a second fight.
Even though Teofimo would make more money by fighting Lomachenko again, he still won’t do it.
“It was a very good fight. He showed us his skill,” said Lomachenko about Haney’s fight with Jorge Linares. “He’s a very smart boxer, but he had a problem in the fight.
“The last three rounds were very hard for him. Nobody knows what happens if Linares catches him one more time.
“Of course, I think the referee a little bit helped him because Haney always held in the last three rounds. If the referee had taken a point from Haney for holding, I think it would be another picture.
“But he won this fight, no question, but it was not easy. When I fought Linares, he was in his prime back then. Right now, he is an older fighter.
“What happened, in the end, was Haney was trying to survive because he couldn’t do anything else.
“He was trying to finish the fight somehow, and all he could do was wrestle, hold and hold. That is illegal in boxing. Despite that, he was still able to do it. By doing that, he was able to avoid the fight.
“Nobody knows what would have happened if the referee had taken a point.
“Then he might have stopped holding, and if he had stopped holding, Linares would have landed more shots on him,” said Lomachenko.
Haney’s clinching was for cheating for all intents and purposes. He was forced to cheat to survive, and the referee didn’t perform his job adequately by penalizing Haney for it.
As Lomachenko says, if Haney had lost points, he would have stopped holding, and once he did that, Linares would hit him.
Haney was in such bad shape in the final two rounds that he likely wouldn’t have been able to take more than a small handful of shots without getting stopped.
As such, the referee’s decision not to penalize Haney or at the very least give him warnings ultimately cost Linares the fight.
The referee Russell Mora allowed Haney to clinch nonstop from rounds 10 through 12 openly.
Mora would have changed the fight’s outcome if he’d policed the nonstop holding for Haney, who was clearly gaming the system by using excessive clinching to stop Linares from finishing him off in the 11th and 12th.
If this were the NFL were the referees do a better job of stopping cheaters on defense, Haney would have been penalized repeatedly.
“In my division, the big puncher is Gervonta Davis,” said Lomachenko. “Davis hits hard, he has power. He can knock you out with one single punch.
“He fights at 130, I fight at 135,” said Lomachenko when asked about a fight with Shakur Stevenson. “I’m not going down to 130.
“I’m going to stay at 135 and handle my unfinished business here. I made my decision, I’m not going down to 130.
“We have a lot of good fighters [at 135]. Now it’s a really interesting weight class in the world, I think. We have Ryan Garcia, Linares, Tank Davis, me.”
If there were a reason for Lomachenko, 33, to return to the super featherweight division, he would make the move. But the problem is, the division is barren of big names, so it’s just not economically viable for Lomachenko to return.
The biggest names at 130 are Oscar Valdez, Jamell Herring, and Shakur Stevenson.
While those guys have decent fan bases, they’re not at the same level as Gervonta, Ryan Garcia, or Teofimo Lopez. Hence, it makes more sense for Lomachenko to stay at 135 until the bitter end.
Loma Talks Tank Vs. Barrios & Mayweather – Paul
“I think it’s for business [Tank Davis moving up to 140 to challenge WBA champion Mario Barrios], but he’s still world champion with the WBA.
“I never see this guy [Barrios]. I don’t know how he is in the ring. It depends on the skill of his opponent,” Lomachenko said when asked if Tank Davis is too small to be fighting at light welterweight.
“We all saw a fight last Sunday [Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Logan Paul] with different size and different weight classes, and we all see.
“If you have the skill, you can fight with anybody. But if you fought with somebody that understands boxing, it’ll be very hard. We have weight categories, and that’s why.
“In boxing, we have a lot of weight classes. They are making money. It’s not a sport. A lot of people buy this fight to watch. fighters and YouTubers making money, it’s a business.
“I’m okay with it because if people want this show, they’ll pay for this. If people want to see it, they will give him.
“The purpose of being famous is to use your popularity. If they ask anybody to fight a YouTuber for 20 million dollars tomorrow, wouldn’t you do it? Of course, you’ll do it. It’s easy money,” said Lomachenko.
Gervonta Davis’ promoters at Mayweather Promotions saw an easy mark in WBA ‘regular’ 140-lb champion Mario Barrios, and that’s why he’s going up in weight.
Tank is not interested in facing undisputed 140-lb champion Josh Taylor, and it’s easy to see why. I think Gervonta knows he’d lose to Taylor, so he’s choosing the easier fight against Barrios.