WBA lightweight champion, Gervonta Davis and crew are currently looking at other options after Vasiliy Lomachenko decided to sit out the rest of 2024. And right now, those options look like Shakur Stevenson, Isaac Cruz, and Zepeda, as per ESPN Boxing insider Mike Coppinger.
‘Tank’ and ‘Loma’ have cut off contract talks, ending hopes of a mega-fight between them in 2024 with credible sources stating that the Ukrainian is not in the “mood” for a massive fight as of now but intends to return in 2025.
‼️ Gervonta Davis vs Vasyl Lomachenko talks are now completely OFF as Loma has decided to take some time away from boxing this year. Potential options for Tank’s next fight now include Shakur Stevenson, William Zepeda and the Isaac Cruz rematch. [According to @MikeCoppinger]
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) July 20, 2024
The 36-year-old’s manager, Egis Klimas revealed to Steve Kim on X about Lomachenko’s mental state, saying the champ is in no mood for a fight and plans to spend the rest of the year off with his family.
Klimas claimed that money isn’t the talking point here and his client is just unmotivated at this point.
In fact, representatives from PBC and Top Rank met last week in Vegas in a bid to finalize a deal for an ESPN-Prime Video pay-per-view fight between Davis and Lomachenko, but they could never strike an accord despite sources claiming that ‘Loma’ was offered a $10 million purse!
This has obviously upset Tank’s camp but to be fair to Lomachenko, if your country was going through a war, there would be a million other things on your mind.
Lomachenko d0esn’t care about the money
The boxing world was anticipating a super fight between reigning WBA and IBF lightweight champions Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Vasiliy Lomachenko but to their dismay, it won’t go down this year as Vasiliy is taking some time off of boxing this year.
The IBF champ snagged the vacant IBF belt this year in May after he defeated Australia’s George Kambosos J.
Likewise, Davis defended his belt successfully against Frank Martin, downing the challenger and eyed a title unification bout against the Ukrainian.
But with ‘Loma’ turning down the fight, Davis’ camp couldn’t contain their frustration. Kenny Elis, Davis’ co-trainer put up an IG story to vent out his disappointment. He essentially urged the southpaw to retire if he wasn’t motivated anymore.
Loma’s manager however did not reveal the exact reason why the champ is taking some time off despite fighting just once this year. He said,
“Lomachenko is not in the right mindset; he lacks motivation. He wants to spend more time with his family and does not want to do anything until the end of the year. Therefore, he will definitely not step into the ring before the end of the year. Lomachenko is not solely motivated by money. You could offer him millions, tens of millions of dollars – if he lacks motivation, he will not prepare for the fight.”
Furthermore, the Ukrainian’s promoter, Bob Arum, previously suggested November as a potential date for the fight, leaving a sliver of hope that Lomachenko might make up his mind in the meanwhile.
However, at this point, Davis’ team is unlikely to wait indefinitely and may shift their focus towards WBC Champion Shakur Stevenson, for a title unification match-up that many consider to be even more intriguing.
