Lomachenko Out, Tank Davis’ Next Fight Up In The Air

The fight between Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Vasily Lomachenko is now off the table for the remainder of 2024. If the fight had gone through, it would have happened in November with Tank’s WBA and Lomachenko’s IBF lightweight titles at stake.

According to Mike Coppinger of ESPN, IBF lightweight champion Lomachenko has decided to take the remainder of the year off, which leaves WBA 135-lb champion Tank David needing to find an opponent for his next fight in 2024.

As Steve Kim reported, Lomachenko’s manager, Egis Kimas, said Loma isn’t motivated to fight. He doesn’t say when he’ll find that motivation, but he’s just not “in the mood” to fight.

Gervonta’s options for the next fight:

• Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz: He’s scheduled to defend his WBA light welterweight title against Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela on August 3rd. If Cruz gets the fight against Tank, it would be a reach of their clash in 2021.
• William Zepeda: Unbeaten, highly-ranked lightweight contender. Zepeda is ranked #1 among all four sanctioning bodies in terms of being lightweight. It’s a risky fight for Tank against a guy that’s not popular with casual boxing fans.
• Shakur Stevenson: WBC lightweight champion Shakur has campaigned for the fight with Tank. Stevenson isn’t popular and has a reputation for being a runner who makes it ugly. He’s a free agent and could potentially work with Matchroom.

Hardcore boxing fans would like to see Tank Davis fight WBC champion Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs), but the casuals wouldn’t be excited by that match. Shakur isn’t popular, has a dull fighting style, and is not the easiest to listen to. He brags about himself and says the same thing during different interviews without freshening things up.

Given that Tank has already beaten Pitbull Cruz and has a fight scheduled for August 3rd against Rayo Valenzuela, he’s not a good option for November.

William Zepeda would be the best option to attract both casual and hardcore boxing fans because he’s ranked #1 by all four sanctioning bodies, unbeaten, not scheduled for a fight, and has the most entertaining style of the three candidates.