Gervonta Davis and Vasiliy Lomachenko are in a position to make a lightweight unification fight. Thankfully for fans, it seems all parties are onboard.
When Devin Haney moved up to the 140lbs division he vacated all four belts at 135. Lomachenko – who has narrowly lost an undisputed contest against Haney – face George Kambosos Jr for the vacant IBF title and became the first man to stop him.
‘Tank’ Davis was the WBA’s Regular champion and was subsequently upgraded. He made his first defence last month – an emphatic knockout of the previously undefeated Frank Martin.
Despite WBC Champion Shakur Stevenson calling out both men for some time, it appears ‘Tank’ and Loma will unify towards the end of this year. Top Rank’s Bob Arum, who promoted the Ukrainian, has confirmed that positive talks have already taken place and that his fighter will arrive in the US soon to continue negotiations.
Speaking on his podcast, two-time welterweight champion Shawn Porter made a prediction.
“A lot of people are gonna say we got the ‘old Lomachenko’ back [against Kambosos] – no, this is still a very good A fighter that’s fighting against a fighter that doesn’t not have his kind of skill.
I already know people are gonna do this to promote a fight with Gervonta Davis or Shakur Stevenson, they’re gonna say we’ve got the ‘old Loma’ back, this is the best Loma. It’s not the old Loma. It’s the best version of Loma we’re gonna get now. And in some ways, a better Loma simply because of how smart he is. This Loma can still beat a Tank or a Shakur just because of how intelligent he is.
I think the fight now, I think it’s evenly matched but I would tend to lean towards Tank Davis at this point because everything I’ve seen Tank do and, not only that, I feel like he’s got the experience now to go up against Lomachenko.”
As Porter suggests, the match-up comes later in the career of Lomachenko than most would like. At 36-years-old and with a 400-fight amateur career behind him, the Ukrainian will likely be a considerable underdog come fight night.
Still, his elite technique will be the toughest test of ‘Tank’s career so far, one that, should he pass, further cements him as one of the sport’s biggest stars.
