Report- Teofimo Lopez wants more money to fight Lomachenko

A report Thursday says the proposed Undisputed World Lightweight Championship bout for this Fall between Vasiliy Lomachenko and Teofimo Lopez is apparently in jeopardy. But, not because of Covid-19 or something related to that, but because of one of the typical boxing stumbling blocks- money.

Mike Coppinger of the Athletic tweeted Thursday afternoon that, while the WBA/WBO/WBC “Franchise” champ Lomachenko has agreed with promoter Top Rank Boxing on his purse, the up-and-coming IBF 135-pound Champion is unhappy with what he’s being offered:

Teofimo Lopez was offered $1.2 million for an Oct. 3 lightweight title bout vs. Vasiliy Lomachenko, sources tell @TheAthleticBOX; he’s seeking far more and the fight’s in jeopardy. Loma accepted a package in excess of $3.25 million. All the details:https://t.co/RVgNcnEh9e

— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) July 30, 2020

Top Rank has been looking to finalize the Lomachenko-Lopz bout, as one of its top fights this Fall and promoter Bob Arum has been negotiating an October 3rd date with Nevada officials and his television partner, ESPN.

Lomachenko 14-1, 10 KOs and Lopez 15-0, 12 KOs were originally supposed to fight on May 30th at Madison Square Garden before the Coronavirus outbreak shut down the sport in mid-March. Arum had been looking at Saturday night September 19th as a possible date and maybe with some socially distanced fans able to attend. However, with Covid cases on the rise in Nevada, that doesn’t seem likely.

As for Lomachenko getting the bigger financial guarantee, no one can argue that Lopez is an up and comer being featured by Top Rank/ESPN. But, 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 was August 31st when he scored an impressive, easy 12 round unanimous decision win over England’s Luke Campbell to become Unified 135 lb. champ. In three of his four previous fights he defeated Jose Pedraza, Jorge Linares, and Gulliermo Rigondeaux, all of whom were previous World Title holders.

Lopez’s biggest fight to date is his second round destruction of IBF champ, Richard Commey, last December.

Now, it’s entirely possible that Lopez and his team are simply posturing / negotiating to get a better Financial deal and we’ll agree in due time to the much anticipated battle with Loma .

Thursday is also Lopez’s 23rd birthday and apparently in addition to possibly a slice of cake, he wants a lot more bread ….. as in the kind you spend.

Now, let’s see if he gets it and the biggest fight of his career.