Vasyl Lomachenko says he’s he’ll be fighting next on October 29th in New York. The former three-division world champion Lomachenko’s opponent is expected to be lightweight contender Jamaine Ortiz in a tune-up clash on ESPN.
The Ortiz (16-0-1, 8 KOs) will serve as the springboard to the two-time Olympic gold medalist Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs) facing undisputed 135-lb champion Devin Haney in early 2023.
Haney (28-0, 15 KOs) is unavailable to fight Lomachenko now because he’s tied up in a rematch with former unified lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr. on October 16th at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia.
If that fight plays out anything like their previous one last June, Haney will win an easy 12 round decision and send Kambosos skittering downward in the rankings at lightweight.
“October 29 in New York,” said Vasyl Lomachenko to Fight Hub TV when asked when he’ll be back inside the ring.
Lomachenko last fought on December 11th, beating Richard Commey by a 12 round unanimous decision in a non-competitive fight on ESPN. That was Lomachenko’s second fight since losing his unified lightweight belts to Teofimo Lopez in November 2020 in a surprise loss.
Lomachenko wanted an immediate rematch with Teofimo, but there was no interest from him and his father. They chose instead to fight Kambosos in a move that wound up backfiring on them.
If Lomachenko can beat the 26-year-old Ortiz and Haney, he’ll be once again on top of the lightweight division. Of course, that doesn’t mean he’ll be able to get fights against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis or Ryan Garcia, as those two are carefully matched by their promoters.
More than likely, Lomachenko would need to be satisfied with possibly fighting Haney a second time and fighting guys like Isaac Cruz rather than Tank or Ryan Garcia.
Last Saturday night, Lomachenko was at ringside to watch his fellow countryman Oleksandr Usyk defeat Anthony Joshua in a rematch in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
“It’s a big win,” said Lomachenko, reacting to Oleksandr Usyk’s win over Anthony Joshua last Saturday night. “I want too see the green belt, WBC. It doesn’t matter. Another boxer, it doesn’t matter.
“He changed a little bit of his strategy but it not helped him for him because Usyk is on another level,” said Lomachenko.
