Birthday gift. Fight Lomachenko – Kambosos – a reward for the all-in move from the Ukrainian

On February 17, one of the best boxers in the history of Ukraine, Vasily Lomachenko, turned 34 years old. Just for the holiday, the World Boxing Organization WBO, whose first rating number is the Ukrainian, presented him with a gift, obliging its lightweight champion George Kambosos, who also holds the WBA / IBF / WBC titles, to make a mandatory defense against Lomachenko. The fight could take place on June 5 in Melbourne. If the Lomachenko-Kambosos fight does happen, then it will be an excellent reward for the Ukrainian for the risk and love of boxing.

Lomachenko can be treated differently. First of all, for his, to put it mildly, strange civic position – there are videos with Russian special forces, love for the Moscow Patriarchate, ambiguous posts on social networks.

But hardly anyone will argue with the statement that Vasily is one of the best boxers in the history of Ukraine and one of the most gifted fighters in the world. But for what, in any case, you need to respect Lomachenko – this is for his love of boxing and, if I may say so, sports education. In other words, Vasily does not fit into the paradigm of modern professional boxing, in which money has long come to the fore. Where youtubers and freak-boys gather an incredible audience and box office. Where the fight between a boxer and an MMA star becomes the most profitable of the year, and when choosing an opponent, champions are often guided by a fee, and not by a sports component.

Lomachenko is different in this regard. For a Ukrainian, his sports heritage is much more important than the opportunity to earn another one or several million dollars. Hence the desire to stay for the second Olympics, to become the first Ukrainian boxer in history to win two gold medals at the Games. Hence the signing of a contract with the Top Rank promotion company, whose head Bob Arum promised and organized a title fight for the Ukrainian in the second fight in the professional ring – if Lomachenko had won against Salido, he would have gone down in history forever (no one had ever managed to pull off such a trick).

Changes in weight categories, entering the fight with Lopez with an injury – this is also a consequence of Lomachenko’s sports education. In the first case, he understood that they didn’t want to fight him, which means that the title of the absolute world champion would be inaccessible. Secondly, he simply decided not to lose the chance to fulfill his dream, realizing that if he refused, he would have to wait a long time for a second chance to get a fight for the status of the undisputed lightweight champion of the world.

And now, having climbed to the top of the ratings of almost all organizations, having beaten two top lightweights after losing to Lopez, Lomachenko put everything on the line in terms of organizing a fight with Kambosos. Even the manager of the Ukrainian Egis Klimas, whose task is to “provide the cash desk” and organize financially profitable fights, admitted that Lomachenko is ready to go to any lengths to get a fight with the Australian.

Lomachenko really went for it. Unlike Devin Haney, who owns the WBC regular champion title, he did not demand fabulous fees, did not refuse to fight in Australia, and even agreed to write in the contract an option for two fights at once.

Let’s talk again: a Ukrainian is ready to fly to another continent, fight in a different climate and time zone against a really very dangerous opponent, an absolute world champion, without requiring any special conditions and guarantees. Moreover, Lomachenko forced even the previously intractable Haney to declare that he was ready to fight Kambosos on the same financial terms as Lomachenko. True, the American has not yet said whether he is ready to come to Australia.

Lomachenko went for broke in terms of organizing the fight with Kambosos. Yes, perhaps, given the age of the Ukrainian, he had no other options. Vasily is already 34. For heavyweights and even light heavyweights, age is far from critical, but for lightweights it is almost the limit. The Ukrainian does not have a single championship belt, and in the event of a breakdown in the duel with Kambosos, he will not have so many chances to retire with a title. Now there is a real opportunity to enter the history of Ukrainian and world boxing.

Of course, it cannot be argued that the Lomachenko-Kambosos fight will definitely take place. But as of today, he has become incredibly close. And, probably, it is difficult to imagine a better gift for Vasily. We hold our fists for the duel to take place. Lomachenko himself needs it, since rematches with Salido and Lopez are already impossible, and world boxing.