Vasyl Lomachenko could return in the summer against Masayoshi Nakatani!
Former unified lightweight champion Vasyl “Hi-Tech” Lomachenko (14-2, 10KOs) could be returning to the ring this summer against Masayoshi Nakatani (19-1, 13KOs). Back in October of 2020, Lomachenko would lose his titles to Teofimo “El Brooklyn” Lopez (16-0, 12KOs) by unanimous decision. The loss did not sit well with the Ukrainian fighter at all. He expressed his displeasure with the judges, stating that he did not lose the fight while also calling for a rematch.
Obviously, for the time being, a rematch with Lopez is out of the question. So what is next for the three-division world champion? His promoter Bob Arum told iFL TV the following about Lomachenko’s possible ring return.
“Lomachenko, we’ve talked with him and we’re looking at early summer. We want to put Lomachenko before he’s tired of fighting in bubbles. He’s a big ticket seller. So we think we can do a big fight early summer in the United States, maybe against the Japanese boy, Nakatani, who knocked out Verdejo and gave Lopez all he could handle. Went the full ten rounds with Lopez. So Nakatani is a really hard-punching lightweight, and we’re looking to him being the opponent for Lomachenko.”
ROAD TO REDEMPTION
As mentioned in the interview, Nakatani is a former foe of Lopez. Lopez would need to dig deep to win the bout. This fight is intriguing for a number of reasons. It will show us where a soon-to-be 33-year-old Lomachenko’s head is at now that he is no longer the man at 135. Also the height (5’11) and style of Nakatani is sure to be somewhat problematic. Overall this is a good potential first fight back for Loma, who is clearly going to be on a mission to regain his titles. Furthermore, Nakatani is coming off a knockout victory over the once highly-regarded Puerto Rican Felix Verdejo in December of 2012.
By: Jerrell Fletcher
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