By: Hans Themistode
Vasiliy Lomachenko’s fall from grace was both short-lived and highly exaggerated.
After suffering defeat at the hands of Teofimo Lopez late last year which resulted in the Ukrainian losing his WBA, WBO, and WBC “Franchise” lightweight titles, Lomachenko fell from his normally high placement on virtually every pound-for-pound list. But while the multiple division titlist has seen his reputation take a hit, he’s seemingly regained some of his luster.
Following back-to-back wins this year over highly ranked contenders Masayoshi Nakatani and Richard Commey, Lomachenko now finds himself near the top of the lightweight mountain. As the 33-year-old has made his feelings known that he would love a showdown against George Kambosos Jr., the man who recently defeated Lopez, Tim Bradley has other ideas.
“We wanna see Tank [Gervonta Davis] vs. Loma,” said Bradley during an interview with BoxingInsider.com.
Bradley’s infatuation with watching Lomachenko and Davis square off was only enhanced after witnessing the hard-hitting Baltimore native just a few weeks ago. Although his opponent, Isaac Cruz, was able to withstand his power and push Davis to a 12 round decision for the first time in his career, Bradley is still confident that the 27-year-old would be arguably Lomachenko’s most difficult fight yet.
“Hell yea that’s a competitive fight,” continued Bradley. “You got Tank who got that punching power and speed and he can box too. Then you got Lomachenko who got the footwork and everything that goes along with him. I wanna see the fight. Tank is dangerous.”
Bradley, a retired former two-division titlist in his own right, has consistently sat back and marveled at the skills of Lomachenko. But, regardless of the reverence he has for the Ukrainian native, Bradley appears to be even more in awe at the total skillset of Davis.
“When do you see a guy with speed and power? You see a guy either have speed, no power. No power, but a little bit of speed. You got a guy with speed and power and skills to go along with it.”