Lomachenko wants to face unbeaten contender in first fight back.
Two years ago, Vasiliy Lomachenko had what was thought to be his last professional boxing match. Going out on a high, he dominated George Kambosos Jr. to take home the IBF and IBO lightweight world titles.
Thus ended one of the greatest ring careers of the modern era, or so we thought. Recently, it was announced that the brilliant Ukrainian was going to make his return to the sport.
We then found out that for his comeback, Lomachenko wanted no soft touches, reportedly desiring showdowns with Gervonta Davis and Emanuel Navarrete.
But that might be too soon for even the pugilistic warlock “Loma”, now 38 years old and with two years of inactivity.
So, instead of fighting Davis or Navarrete, he has reportedly now set his sights on someone who many thought should have beaten Navarrete.
Charly Suarez is a Filipino contender who challenged the Mexican for his WBO super-featherweight title last year. In their controversial encounter, action was halted as Navarrete was announced as the winner by technical decision due to suffering a cut deemed to have been caused by a clash of heads.
However, later review showed that the cut was actually caused by a punch from Suarez. Had it been ruled as such, the underdog from the Philippines would have won by stoppage and become the new world champion.
The California State Athletic Commission changed the result to a no-contest, and talks of a rematch ultimately went nowhere. Navarrete then chose to unify with IBF champion Eduardo Núñez.
Suarez has been out of the ring since his unlucky night, but is currently scheduled to return on the 11th of July when he takes on Manuel Avila for the WBO international title.
At 37 years old himself, Suarez isn’t that much younger than Lomachenko, but he has been more active despite being out for over a year.
Still undefeated, he would be more than a decent scalp for Lomachenko to take in his first fight back, though the former three-weight world champion should be careful not to underestimate Suarez; he is a very capable fighter indeed.
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