Legendary promoter Bob Arum is reporting that Vasiliy Lomachenko is voluntarily taking a pay-cut so that he can help get Teofimo Lopez the money that he’s asking for to face him on October 3 in a unification fight.
IBF lightweight champion Lopez (15-0, 12 KOs) was offered $1.2 million to fight WBA/WBC/WBO 135lb champ Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs), but he wants $2 million. Lomachenko is said to be getting $3.4 million. So if Lomachenko gives up $800K to get the deal done, he’ll be getting $2.6 million to Teofimo’s $2 million.
In an interview this week, Lomachenko said he wasn’t sure whether his fight with Lopez would be on regular ESPN or pay-per-view. If it’s on PPV, then he and Teofimo will receive a bump up in pay depending on the number of buys.
Lomachenko taking a pay cut
Arum isn’t saying how much of a reduction in Lomachenko’s purse he’s taking to get the fight with Lopez done, but it’s possible that he could be sacrificing $800,000.
“He is voluntarily under these circumstances reduced his (own) purse in order to get the fight done,” said Arum about Lomachenko to AK & Barak show on Sirius XM radio.
What this men’s is that Lomachenko, 32, is so confident of victory that he’s willing to pay to make sure that he gets the 23-year-old Teofimo inside the ring so that he can school him.
If Lomachenko is wrong, Teofimo will knock him out with one of his big shots just as he’s done with 12 of his 15 opponents. There would be no shame for Lomachenko if he were to lose to Teofimo by stoppage, as this is a fighter that is like a smaller version of a welterweight.
Teofimo could win
Lomachenko is a good fighter, but he has limits to what his technical brilliance can do for him in fights. I think it’s safe to say that the ceiling for Lomachenko is 135. If he were to dare moving up t 140 to take on Josh Taylor or 147 to face Errol Spence, Manny Pacquiao, or Terence Crawford, it would end badly for him.
As I mentioned, Teofimo is the equivalent of a short welterweight but with enormous power in either hand. If Teofimo can connect cleanly to the head of Lomachenko, he’s hurt him. He may beat the two-time Olympic gold medalist each time he hits him.
You’ve got to give Lomachenko a ton of respect for giving up a portion of his purse to get his fight with Teofimo done. If he doesn’t do this, then Teofimo will wait until after the pandemic ends before fighting Lomachenko.
Based on the latest news on the virus front, this thing could be with us for many years, and the vaccine won’t stop it permanently. So if Teofimo chooses to wait for the vaccine, he’ll be potentially wasting his time.
