TWO-time Olympic gold medalist and current WBO junior lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko will reportedly make his return to the ring on November 26 at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Bob Arum confirmed the date to the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Saturday and added that an opponent could be revealed as soon as Monday.
Lomachenko, considered by many to be one of the greatest amateur boxers of all time, staged a masterclass in his last outing, thoroughly dominating WBO World super featherweight champion, Roman Martinez, over four and a half rounds. A sublime left uppercut – right hook combination in the fifth prompted the knockout victory and dazzled the partisan crowd at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York City.
Former WBA Super World featherweight champion, Nicholas Walters, has been named as a potential foe for the fast-rising Ukrainian. The Jamaican slugger earned his world title by battering Nonito Donaire back into the lower weight classes in October of 2014, but lost it on the scales prior to his first defense less than one year later.
Panamanian world champion, Jezreel Corrales, who snatched the WBA belt from Takashi Uchiyama earlier this year, has also been linked to Lomachenko.
In his last fight, Corrales, fighting outside of his home country for the first time in his career, sent the previously unbeaten Japanese champion to the canvas three times en route to a second round knockout victory, ending Uchiyama’s impressive six-year title reign.
Earlier this month, Corrales was perceived as the favorite to win the Lomachenko sweepstakes, but talks seem to have cooled as of late.
“The negotiations have taken quite a while and we are evaluating other options,” said Rogelio Espino, Corrales’ promoter, to Boxing News. “I believe things will be defined over the course of the coming week.”
