By Steve Kim
There have been reports from Filipino media outlets where Manny Pacquiao (59-7-2, 38 KOs) has stated that he was in discussions to face WBO junior lightweight titlist, Vasyl Lomachenko in the spring.
Pacquiao's statements caught many by surprise, because he's currently fighting at the welterweight limit of 147-pounds and Lomachenko is still competing at 126-pounds.
While Lomachenko's manager, Egis Klimas, has rejected the idea of the fight - Bob Arum, the the founder of Top Rank (which represents both boxers) told BoxingScene.com on Wednesday that there had discussions, but the catch-weight became the main sticking point.
Lomachenko is heading up to the lightweight division in the near future and the unbeaten boxer's father and head trainer did not want him moving up too high for that fight,
"There had been discussions to fight Lomachenko but the father of Lomachenko didn't want him to jump two weight classes. Lomachenko will fight first at lightweight and then what we're trying to do is have Manny fight a keep-busy fight and then fight Lomachenko in the fall," Arum told BoxingScene.com.
Lomachenko, back on December 9th at the Theater in Madison Square Garden in New York City, stopped Guillermo Rigondeaux in six round of their heavily hyped bout in a junior lightweight contest. Rigondeaux, who at the time held the WBA world title at 122-pounds, move up by two weight classes to take the fight.
Pacquiao, in his last bout on July 1st, traveled over to Brisbane, Australia and suffered an upset decision loss to 2012 Australian Olympian Jeff Horn, who walked away with the Filpino star's WBO welterweight belt before a crowd of 51,000 at the Suncorp Stadium.
A match-up between these two whirlwind southpaws would take place at 140-pounds.
"But the father said to jump from 130 to 140 was a bridge too far,"Arum reiterated.
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.
2023-10-20 08:46:06
