The dead matchup that keeps shuffling
The oddly proposed bout between Manny Pacquiao and Vasyl Lomachenko was stopped on its feeble tracks. It was slammed as wholly “INSANE.”
The off-ring stoppage was scored by Egis Klimas, Lomachenko’s manager and chief handler.
This came last week, after Pacquiao alleged they were in negotiations to fight the vastly talented Ukranian pound-for-pound star and WBO super featherweight champion.
No truth to that, Klimas cried. He went on to explain they were not about to take advantage of the old, inactive Pacquiao.
“Loma beating him takes us nowhere. We want to fight active champions dominating their weight class,” Klimas stated.
That, plus the gross disparity in weight, should have put the issue to rest.
Don’t tell that to veteran promoter Bob Arum.
The dumped Pacquiao-Lomachenko bout has remained hot topic in boxing circles hereabouts. There is slew of Filipino internationalists—Jerwin
Ancajas, Donnie Nietes, Mercito Gesta, Nonito Donaire, Brian Viloria—set to take on tough foreign assignments shortly.
But Pacquiao-Lomachenko has so far outscored them in media mileage.
The Lomachenko-Pacquiao pairing continues to shuffle and stir in Arum’s imagination.
Arum has announced Pacquiao would return in April. He explained: “Lomachenko will be having a fight probably at 135 at the end of April.
Lomachenko’s father would then need to give him permission to fight Manny at 140 in the fall.”
Meanwhile, trainer Freddie Roach said he would pick Lomachenko over Terence Crawford to fight Pacquiao.
Roach said Loma was smaller and therefore less dangerous than the big, strong, unbeaten star from Omaha.
