What’s next for Vasyl Lomachenko?

What’s next for Vasyl Lomachenko?

After a shocking defeat to now undisputed champion Teofimo Lopez, Vasyl Lomachenko is coming off a loss for just the second time in his professional career. What comes next for the man many saw as the best fighter pound-for-pound?

Vasyl Lomachenko, one of the best fighters in the sport of boxing, suffered a shocking defeat yesterday at the hands of Teofimo Lopez. With the loss, Lopez obtained all three of Lomachenko’s belts and has become the undisputed lightweight champion. The sky is obviously the limit for Lopez and has seemingly endless options at just 23 years old.

Lomachenko, however, is in an entirely different situation, at age 32 and coming off his second professional loss in 16 fights, he needs to make every move count.

So where does he go from here? There are a few different courses he could take to quickly regain his stature as one of the best fighters in the world:

Move back down to junior lightweight

Lomachenko quickly rose to the top of pound-for-pound lists because of his time fighting at the junior lightweight and featherweight divisions. After running through most of the fighters in these weight classes, the only natural next step was to move up in weight again to face bigger men at lightweight.

He was quickly able to unify three of the four major belts in the division, but he was far from his dominant self and looked smaller in the ring against many of his opponents in this division.

Jorge Linares, Jose Pedraza, and Luke Campbell able to hit Lomachenko quite a lot, and win a round, something uncommon for Lomachenko opponents when he was fighting at lower weight classes.

A move back down in weight seems the most likely option for Loma at this point in time, as he will quickly regain his status as one of the best fighters in the world. He will no longer have to fight men naturally larger than him, and when he is not at a size disadvantage, he is able to employ his elite skill set more easily.

There are also some good fighters at junior lightweight, a fight with WBC champion Miguel Berchelt would be fantastic.

Stay at lightweight

The only way I see this move happening is if Teofimo Lopez moves up in weight and vacates his titles. The fact of the matter is that Lopez is a truly elite fighter who not even at his best yet, and I don’t see Lomachenko being able to beat him in the future if he couldn’t do it last night. A good big man always beats a good big man – and Teofimo is every bit as good of a boxer as Lomachenko.

With that being said, Teofimo and his team have made no secrets that they plan on moving up in weight, and if he were to do that, Lomachenko could quickly regain the belts he lost to Lopez. He was the best fighter in the division before losing, and he would be favored against most, if not all, of the opponents in the weight class.

There are also bigger names at lightweight, so if Loma is looking to be in big events, he could hang around and face Gervonta Davis, Devin Haney, and/or Ryan Garcia. Any of these fights would be a must-see.

Move up to junior welterweight

This may sound like a terrible idea for a man who was already at a bit of a size advantage at lightweight, but hear me out.

Most of the all-time great boxers took risks, Mayweather won titles in six weight classes and Pacquiao in eight.

Lomachenko currently has won titles in three weight classes, and if he were to move up yet again and claim a title, it would bolster his resume that is already Hall of Fame worthy.

It does not seem likely, especially coming off of a loss, but it is still a possibility if Lomachenko truly wants to add to his already great legacy.

There are some great fighters at junior welterweight, and there would always be the chance of Manny Pacquiao or Mikey Garcia coming back down in weight for a fight with Lomachenko at 140 pounds.