Boxing commentator Tim Bradley believes we’ve seen the last of Vasily Lomachenko after his decision not to pursue the mega-fight with Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis in November.
Bradley notes that the former three-division world champion Lomachenko isn’t the type that ducks opponents, but he thinks he’s lost interest in the sport at 36. He thinks Lomachenko (18-3, 12 KOs) knows that Tank Davis is using him for his name to increase his fame, and he questions whether he would be given a decision, even if he won.
The Weight of Past Controversial Decisions
After all, Tank is the younger star with a lot of money behind him and more of a future ahead of him than he is at his advanced age. Lomachenko has already been on the receiving end of three questionable decisions in his career against Devin Haney, Teofimo Lopez, and Orlando Salido.
All three of those fights took place in the U.S., and Lomachenko might not feel he’ll be given a fair shake against the superstar Tank Davis if the fight goes the distance.
Since that’s Lomachenko’s likely path to victory, he would basically have very little chance of beating Crawford unless he got lucky and scored a knockout. The only one that had a chance of winning was Tank Davis, and Lomachenko would be used for his name to transform the Baltimore native into a bigger star.
“If you want to call this a duck, it’s a duck. There’s no doubt about it, but I think it’s something deeper, because Loma is the type of guy that doesn’t duck any smoke,” said Tim Bradley to Sean Zittel’s YouTube channel, talking about Vasily Lomachenko choosing not to fight Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis to take the remainder of this year off.
It might be a duck on Lomachenko’s part, but only because he knew what he was up against, fighting the superstar Tank Davis with virtually no chance of winning. The only thing Lomachenko would get out of the fight was a big payday. He would be selling his name to Tank.
“When I look at how he’s been behaving. This isn’t just one time. This is twice. Shakur is [was] part of Top Rank,” Bradley said about Lomachenko. “He wanted that fight. Lomachenko pretty much said it. ‘I don’t want the fight right now.’ So not only did he duck Shakur, he ducked Tank.”
It’s understandable why Lomachenko didn’t want to fight Shakur Stevenson, because he saw what happened in his fight against Edwin De Los Santos with how he ran from him all night. Shakur landed just a few punches in every round, and the judges gave him a dubious decision in a fight that could have gone the other way.
It would be the same situation if Lomachenko fought Shakur, who was 27, with a long future ahead of him, and needed the famous fighter’s name to increase his popularity.
Even if Shakur ran all night as he did against De Los Santos, Lomachenko would have no chance of winning because he’s the younger fighter being built into a PPV attraction. Loma would be selling his name.
“I think Loma knows. As fighters, we know what we can do and what we can’t,” said Bradley. “Loma and his team don’t want him to go out on his shield, get knocked out, or get embarrassed. He [Lomachenko] fought Kambosos because he knew that was a fight he could win, win a belt, and go out on a high note.”
Lomachenko would have a good chance of beating Tank Davis, but you can understand why he wouldn’t be motivated to fight him if he felt he would be used and robbed. If Lomachenko weren’t jaded by his three controversial losses to Salido, Haney, and Teofimo, he would have agreed to fight Tank
“I think this is it for Loma. I don’t think Loma returns,” said Bradley. “I only say that because this is the type of guy that doesn’t duck any smoke. He fought against Lopez and Linares, and he fought against Haney. The last couple of fights that he had were really close, competitive fights.”
It’s already known that Lomachenko had planned on retiring after his controversial decision loss to Haney last year, but his father convinced him to return to the ring to fight for the vacant IBF title against George Kambosos Jr.
“The Haney fight really put a dagger in him. He felt he won the fight,” said Bradley about Lomachenko being upset about his loss. “Many people watching felt he won the fight. That does something to a fighter, and when you have a couple of close calls like that, you say to yourself, ‘F this game.’”
That defeat was a bitter pill for Lomachenko to swallow because he wanted to become the undisputed lightweight champion, and that was the perfect opportunity to accomplish that against Haney. He felt he won, but the judges gave it to the younger fighter with a perceived longer future ahead of him. If Loma felt he was going to get robbed against Tank and Shakur, it would be understandable why he didn’t fight them.
“Going into a Tank fight, if he puts in a hell of a performance and doesn’t get knocked out and he wins the fight, he’s probably already thinking, ‘Tank is the younger guy. He’s using me for my legacy. I know that.’ When you’re in the game, you start to realize that you’re just a piece of meat,” said Bradley.
Belief is a strong thing. If a person feels like they have no chance to get ahead in a fight or a job, they give up and stop trying. Lomachenko may have felt that he was going to be used for his name by Tank Davis’ team to transform their fighter into a bigger star because he’s still not a huge attraction yet.
That’s why only his fight against Ryan Garcia was a successful one, and that was because of the 12 million Instagram followers for Kingry. Lomachenko would have been used to transform Tank into a star, and Loma would have had zero chance of winning.
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