IBF lightweight champion, Vasiliy Lomachenko is reportedly willing to step aside from a fight against Gervonta Davis to allow ‘Tank’ to fight Shakur Stevenson first.
Bob Arum revealed last month that talks had begun for the Ukrainian to take on Davis later this year and he saw no stumbling blocks to making it happen.
However, according to Tank’s co-trainer Kenny Ellis, Lomachenko, will now make way for Shakur Stevenson to face Davis instead – provided he gets to face the winner in 2025.
“Breaking news. Lomachenko said he will step aside and let Gervonta Davis fight Shakur Stevenson this fall and he’ll fight the winner early 2025.”
Gervonta Davis’ co-trainer Kenny Ellis on Instagram after Shakur Stevenson’s win over Artem Harutyunyan… pic.twitter.com/GLpMctLTkh
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) July 7, 2024
Ellis’ post came after Stevenson cruised to yet another comfortable, if not a little underwhelming, unanimous decision against Artem Harutyunyan to retain his lightweight WBC title.
Stevenson’s performance was met with some boos from the crowd at the final bell, something the 27-year-old is becoming accustomed to, however he defended his showing by saying “it’s kind of hard to prove it if you don’t got a fighter trying to fight back”.
There is no doubting the skill and talent of the three-weight world champion, but whether he offers the financial reward for Tank to take the risk in facing him remains to be seen.
Davis is coming off another spectacular knockout victory, dispatching of Frank Martin in the eighth round with an uppercut followed by a devastating straight left.
As for Lomachenko, the 36-year-old rolled back the years in May to become the first man to stop George Kambosos Jr and win the vacant IBF title.
