In a recent interview with BoxNation in the UK, WBA lightweight champ Vasiliy Lomachenko stated that his primary goal in boxing is to etch his name in boxing history.
?My first goal is to be in the history,? he told BoxNation?s Steve Lillis. ?I want to write my name and my second name in history. If you, after ten years, go to a bar, take a beer with your friends and you talk about boxing, you need to remember my name. I want an association with boxing, and this is my goal. Tomorrow, you can lose money. But your name and your history you never lose.?
With two Olympic gold medals and world titles in three different weight classes as a pro, the 30-year-old native of the Ukraine is well on his way to accomplishing this primary objective.
Some may argue that he?s already there.
But, if we?re talking Ali, Sugar Ray, or even Frazier, Hagler, Chavez-level historical significance, the talented southpaw still has a second half of his journey to complete. And that second half of the journey is all about the opposition he faces from here on out.
Up until now, Lomachenko?s body of work will be assessed differently depending on who you ask. As a twelve-fight pro, having wins over the likes of Gary Russell Jr., Roman Martinez, Nicholas Walters, Guillermo Rigondeaux, and Jorge Linares (as well as a hard-fought close loss to Orlando Salido) is damn impressive. However, as a ?Mr. Everything? and ATG amateur who was slotted into a world title shot in just his second pro fight, much is expected and much is dismissed.
Rigondeaux, for example, was fighting two divisions above his ideal weight and Walters? quick and total decline post-Vasiliy casts some shade on the brilliance of Lomachenko?s dominance in their fight.
More problematic for Lomachenko and his ultimate goal is not what already went down, but what may lie ahead?because his lightweight home base is absolutely barren.
Upcoming December 8 challenger and WBO titlist Jose Pedraza is good, but hardly great. WBA mandatory Anthony Crolla is such a no-hoper that even Crolla?s UK countrymen are mocking the matchup online.
Beyond what?s to come, there?s not even the slightest hint of a hope of a dream when it comes to a big, legacy-defining fight at 135 in the near future. Luke Campbell? Richard Commey? Emmanuel Tagoe?
Lomachenko?s only chance at something truly legacy-defining at 135 would be against Mikey Garcia, who is still technically a lightweight world titlist despite his move up to 147 on March 16 to challenge Errol Spence. But a Garcia fight will likely never happen because of conflicting business entanglements and the bad blood between Garcia and former promoter Bob Arum, who currently represents Lomachenko.
One division below lightweight, the super featherweights are similarly absent of high-end challenges capable of moving up to give the pound-for-pound-ranked champ a battle. The best hope is probably 24-year-old Gervonta Davis, who needs some seasoning and personal maturing before he can be considered a true test.
Lomachenko?s only other option for the big, significant fights he craves would involve a move up to an increasingly deep and interesting junior welterweight division. Young, talented high-end fighters in their physical primes like Regis Prograis, Josh Taylor, Maurice Hooker, and Jose Ramirez constitute the upper echelon of the division.
But Vasiliy, at 5?7? with a smallish frame, may be too small for yet another move up in weight and he?s expressed reluctance in the past when it comes to crossing that great divide between lightweight and the usually welterweight-bound junior welters.
So, in the meantime, Lomachenko will fight the best opposition made available to him in a weak division further diluted by business issues and personal beefs. Will this be enough to etch the Lomachenko name in history alongside the handful of boxing names who have already become part of our culture? Like a lot of things in the subjective world of boxing, that will probably depend on who you ask.
