Bob Arum is the long-time promoter of legendary Ukrainian Vasily Lomachenko.
The Ukrainian fighter was a decorated Olympian with a famous record of 396 wins and 1 loss. He turned over in 2013 with great expectations and soon began to make a mark on the world scene.
Lomachenko won his first fight by stopping José Ramirez in the fourth round and then went straight into a world title contest in his second bout.
However, it was veteran Orlando Salido who did enough on the night to take a narrow points win, but because he didn’t make weight he was unable to claim the WBO featherweight title which remains vacant.
In his third fight, Lomachenko challenged Gary Russell Jr for the once again vacant WBO featherweight title and won via a twelve-round majority decision which meant he tied the record with Thailand’s Saensak Muangsurin for winning a world title in the fewest professional fights.
From there he went on a superb run and beat the likes of Nicholas Walters, Miguel Marriaga and Guillermo Rigondeaux before moving up to lightweight and claiming more belts with wins over Jorge Linares, Anthony Crolla and Luke Campbell.
It wasn’t until 2020 when he took on Teofimo Lopez that he suffered his first loss, and a second came against Devin Haney in 2023.
Lomachenko regained the vacant IBF strap by beating George Kambosos Jr in May of this year but hasn’t fought since.
He entered into negotiations for a unification with Gervonta Davis, however later pulled out due to a lack of motivation – the main reason many in the sport feel he may be seriously considering retirement.
Speaking to FigthHub TV, Arum was asked about his current status.
“I met with Vasily and his father and [manager] Egis [Klimas] a number of months ago when Loma was still living in LA after his last fight and he told me that he wants to spend time with his kids and he was going back to Ukraine and he would contact me after the New Year.
“I can’t read the guy’s mind, I don’t know which way he wants to operate. He’s in a situation where there is a war still on in Ukraine so I can’t predict.”
Arum was then asked if a fight with lightweight star Davis would be top of the wish list for Lomachenko’s return.
“That would be a great fight, but there are a lot of great fights for him – Shakur Stevenson, Keyshawn Davis, so there are a lot of good opponents.”
Whether or not he returns, Lomachenko will go down as an all-time great.
