Retire as a champion or pursue a unification against Gervonta “Tank” Davis next year?
The decision remains in possession of Vasiliy Lomachenko.
As his 37th birthday nears in February, Lomachenko 18-3 (12 KOs) is settled in war-torn Ukraine with his wife and two children, nearly six months removed from his 11th-round TKO victory over George Kambosos Jnr in Australia to claim the WBF lightweight belt and just more than three months since deciding not to meet unbeaten WBA champion Davis this year.
“There’s absolutely no way to know what he’ll do and if you asked me right now what he’s doing, I’d say, ‘I don’t know,’” Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said of Lomachenko’s choice between retiring or coming back.
Lomachenko manager Egis Klimas revealed to BoxingScene Monday that Lomachenko has experienced back pain in recent weeks and is going to be examined by a physician this week.
“The decision (to retire or fight again) hasn’t been made yet, but if there’s one thing I can tell you, money is not the motivation for Lomachenko,” Klimas said.
While Arum remains firmly on the fence, there is increasing sentiment within the Top Rank walls that Lomachenko is leaning toward retirement.
The matter was brought to light last week as two other Top Rank representatives discussed the futures of the company’s unbeaten lightweight contenders, Keyshawn Davis and Raymond Muratalla.
As Muratalla 21-0 (16 KOs) heads to Saturday’s ESPN+ bout against Jesus Antonio Perez Campos in Verona, New York, and Davis 11-0 (7 KOs) stages a November 8 hometown main event against Gustavo Lemos in Norfolk, Virginia, Muratalla, at No. 2, is ranked over No. 3 Davis in the WBO lightweight rankings under champion Denys Berinchyk.
And Davis is No. 3 to No. 4 Muratalla in the IBF ratings.
With unbeaten William Zepeda ranked No. 1 by all four sanctioning bodies and angling for a WBC title shot against three-division champion Shakur Stevenson should Zepeda defeat Tevin Farmer November 16 in Saudi Arabia, that opens the title-fight opportunities for Davis and Muratalla.
And a Top Rank official told BoxingScene that if Lomachenko retires, Davis will likely go after Berinchyk and the WBO belt and Muratalla would seek the vacated IBF belt against fellow contender Zaur Abdullaev, who’s ironically managed by Klimas.
The manager said Lomachenko feels the tug of remaining home – to be present for his family as Ukraine stands as a “war zone” as a result of the Russian invasion. Lomachenko still has “war duties in the army” to honor, and he finds fleeting peace by fishing in his homeland.
Arum declined knowledge of the Davis-to-WBO, Muratalla-to-IBF strategy, but he praised both fighters.
“Muratalla is a courageous warrior. Keyshawn will be the face of boxing, as you’ve seen from his two-day sellout in Norfolk,” Arum said.
Those reading the tea leaves around Lomachenko say he looked drained and content while defeating Kambosos to possibly cap a career that included 397 amateur fights – including two Olympic gold medals – and a decade-long pro career that forced him to prepare for 20 of 21 bouts that were scheduled to go 12 rounds.
On the heels of narrow title losses to Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney – the latter of which left him emotionally crushed – Lomachenko could opt to leave his beloved sport on top, wearing a belt rather than risk a night with the powerful Davis 30-0 (28 KOs).
Lomachenko has sought a bout with Davis since 2019, but was rebuffed. Some of that was likely the result of the disinterest in making Top Rank-Premier Boxing Champions fights, and some blame was cast at Davis, who wouldn’t publicly say he wanted to fight Lomachenko until after stopping Frank Martin in June.
“If Loma retires, there’s a part of me that’ll be happy he didn’t fight ‘Tank,’” one boxing official said. “It was kind of a bitch move by ‘Tank,’ to refuse to fight ‘Loma’ for so long and then cherry pick him at 36, almost 37. It’s like (Lomachenko) saying, ‘No, you had your chance.’”
Davis has settled for longshot junior lightweight champion Lamont Roach Jnr instead in a pay-per-view bout that will move off its originally discussed December 14 spot in Houston, according to multiple sources who say fan disinterest is one of the reasons for the shift.
Klimas said guessing what Lomachenko will do is an exercise in speculation, “even for me.
“Maybe he’ll change his mind and fight … last time (against Kambosos), people were saying he’d retire and he changed his mind, called me and told me he wants to fight. It’s hard to say what will happen.”
Arum said he’s going to remain flexible until he hears from Lomachenko.
“He’s done extremely well in keeping his money, taking care of his family and he has all of his faculties – he’s accomplished all he wants from a professional career,” Arum said. “I’m very happy with that.
“Of course if he wants to come back and fight, God love him, and we will help him with his next fight.”
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