Vasyl Lomachenko Laughs Off Manny Pacquiao Fight Talks

Lightweight world champion Vasyl Lomachenko dreams to be like Manny Pacquiao but chuckled over talks of possible fight.

Ukraine’s Lomachenko just defended his lightweight belts against Luke Campbell in an impressive 12-round battle at London’s O2 Arena last Saturday. As expected, the three-title champ is now linked to different lightweight contenders and world champions.

While Lomachenko is likely to fight either Richard Commey or Teofimo Lopez, Pacquiao’s name was brought up during his recent post-fight press conference against Campbell.

When a reporter asked Lomachenko and his promoter Bob Arum if a fight with Pacquiao is possible, “Loma” smiled and chuckled a bit as he shook his head. After a few seconds, Arum took over and stated that Pacquiao is mimicking what Henry Armstrong did in the past which is fighting in three different divisions at the same time. The Top Rank boss also noted that what Pacquiao has done is what Lomachenko has been dreaming of his entire career.

However, Arum’s statement along with Lomachenko’s reaction evidently suggested that a fight with Pacquiao isn’t possible at this point.

“Pacquiao, again, a man who is going to do what Henry Armstrong did. Fight simultaneously in three different weight divisions. That’s a dream for Vasyl Lomachenko,” Arum revealed.

Arum was also confident that his fighter will be able to unify all the lightweight belts sometime next year.

“To unify all the belts, which he (Lomachenko) eventually will do sometime next year,” Arum added.

In his stellar career, Lomachenko has always stated his desire to max out at 135 pounds due to a possible weight disadvantage of moving any higher. But Arum insists merely a three pound advance could work for Lomachenko. And with regards to Pacquiao, Arum doubts if the Filipino legend could go down to 135 to make the catchweight fight Lomachenko possible, World Boxing News reported.

“I would love to see that fight (Pacquiao vs. Lomachenko), I don’t think Manny (Pacquiao) can get down to 135. But probably we’d do that fight at a catch-weight of let’s say 138,” Arum said.

Reports claim that Pacquiao is due back in the ring later this year, which could work for Lomachenko especially now that he just defeated Campbell. It will be remembered that Arum and Pacquiao worked together for years before parting and could possibly make another big-money pact with Pacquiao vs. Lomachenko. However, a rematch with Floyd Mayweather is still hanging in the air and Arum knows that it is a thing to be considered at this point in dealing with Pacquiao.