Vasiliy Lomachenko has arrived in the U.S. to continue training for his Oct. 17 lightweight title unification fight against Teofimo Lopez. And he reportedly is pumped.
The 32-year-old Ukrainian star, ranked No. 1 pound-for-pound by Boxing Junkie, landed at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday night. He’ll hold camp at his home gym in Camarillo, about a one-hour drive north of downtown L.A.
“He was in a very happy mood,” Egis Klimas, the fighter’s manager, told ESPN. “We called Bob [Arum], and we said, ‘Bob, Loma is here,’ and Bob gave us a little speech about how happy everybody is, excited about [the fight], and Loma just said a couple of words: ‘Bob, I can’t wait for Oct. 17.'”
“… It’s the most excited he’s ever been for a fight because he says, ‘Finally, we are in a fight everyone is waiting for.’ Because even before, they were good fights, [but] people weren’t talking about it. But this fight everybody is waiting for.”
Klimas believes we haven’t seen the best of Lomachenko.
“Let me tell you: Nobody has seen Vasiliy in the ring more than 65 percent of what he can do because he has never had any opponents who could push him in the ring,” he said. “Nobody can push him with what he needs to show what he can do 100 percent. So we never saw who really Lomachenko is.”
Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs) holds three of the four major 135-pound titles, including the WBC’s “franchise” title. He’s coming off a unanimous-decision victory over Luke Campbell in August of last year.
Lopez (15-0, 12 KOs) holds the IBF belt. He last fought this past December, when he stopped Richard Commey in two rounds to win his title.
The fight will take place inside the MGM Grand “bubble” in Las Vegas. It will be televised on ESPN.
