Lomachenko considered old at 32?

An intriguing matchup that appears to be all but set will give us a World Lightweight Unification Title fight between Vasiliy Lomachenko and Teofimo Lopez for September. And, during a discussion Tuesday night on ESPN’s Top Rank Boxing show, a seemingly silly notion from one of the voices has been raised about Lomachenko’s age.

First, the discussion was held between host/play by play announcer Joe Tessitore, former World Champion analysts Andre Ward and Tim Bradley, as well as boxing writer / contributor Mark Kriegel on several subjects. Then, the discussion turned to the proposed fight between the WBO / WBA champion Lomachenko, 14-1, 10 KOs and the IBF champion, Lopez.

Most notably out of their “takes” was the almost comical suggestion by Kriegel that Lomachenko is somehow at a disadvantage because of his age (32).

Watch and hear the comments below:

.@JoeTessESPN, @MarkKriegel, @andreward & @Timbradleyjr had PLENTY of nuggets/opinions to share last night on the potential fight every fan has in the front of their minds. #LomaLopez pic.twitter.com/KqSrwOYyC9

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) July 1, 2020

While no one can argue that Lopez, 15-0, 12 KOs, is younger (he’ll be 23 at the end of July), by the same token, no one can dispute that Lomachenko has been in the ring with far better caliber competition in many more fights.

The Ukranian former Olympic Gold Medalist Lomachenko’s last bout August 31st when he scored a 12 round unanimous decision win over England’s Luke Campbell to become Unified 135 lb. champ. It three of his four previous fights he defeated Jose Pedraza, Jorge Linares, and Gulliermo Rigondeaux, all of whom were previous World Title holders.

And since when, is someone who is 32, not still considered in their prime? Anyone who has watched “Loma” for the last two years can’t describe him as anything other than “dominant” in his wins.

Further, as Bradley pointed out above, the time away from the ring has given Lomachenko an advantage to have fully rested and healed from having fought four times in 19 months.

So, Kriegel’s “age concern” seems pretty worthless.

As for the Lomachenko-Lopez bout, it was originally scheduled for May 30th at Madison Square Garden in NYC (Lopez’s adopted home), but has been postponed during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Last month, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told Boxingscene.com that he would like to hold Lomachenko – Lopez for Saturday night September 19th at one of several Vegas venues and potentially, with some fans socially distant in attendance,

“Our tentative date for that fight is the 19th of September. That’s when we’re hoping to do it.”

“Right now, we are targeting Vegas for most of our events,” Arum continued. “One, because when we open them up to spectators, the town really needs events with spectators to get up and rolling again.

And they’ve been so cooperative with us with this ‘Bubble’ thing that we owe an obligation to the state of Nevada and Las Vegas to do as many events as we can, once we get up and running with spectators.”

Currently, Top Ranks deal with the state of Nevada is to hold fights with in their “bubble” at the MGM Grand Resort/Convention center without fans present. They have been doing so since the second week in June and  intend to continue doing that through likely into August.

Arum told Boxingscene then, that they are considering several venues for the possibility of Lomachenko -Lopez,

“We’re working very closely with the MGM,” Arum said. “It could be at the MGM Grand. It could be at the Mandalay Bay, which is re-opening soon. It could be at T-Mobile [Arena]. It would really be up to them.” 

Although he did not mention it, they might be able to use the new 70,000 seat Allegiant Stadium to easily socially distance 10,000 or so fans. That stadium is nearly completed, and will be the home to the Las Vegas Raiders and the NFL for the first time this fall.

As it stands right now, the weekend of September 19th – 20 is slated to be the second in the NFL schedule and the Raiders are playing their first regular season game at home on Monday night September 21st against the New Orleans Saints.

So, it’s unlikely that Top Rank, the State of Nevada, but more importantly, the team and the NFL would go along with having a major prize fight, so close to that historic debut night.

Still, one of the other “arena” venues could easily socially distance 5,000 fans or so inside of them for some live gate.