By: Hans Themistode
Vasily Lomachenko’s disdain for Teofimo Lopez ran so deep, that the 32 year old was willing to do anything to get his hands on the younger man. Even if it meant throwing away his entire career to do so.
During the lead up of their lightweight undisputed title fight which took place this past weekend, Lomachenko was dealing with severe pain in his right shoulder. The Ukrainian native found himself compromised during training camp which led to his father, Anatoly Lomachenko, wanting to pull his son from the match entirely.
Shoulder injury be damned however. According to numerous reports, Vasiliy would hear none of it as he threatened to retire should his team pull him from his matchup with Lopez.
Not wanting to see their man walk away from the sport of boxing at such a young age, team Lomachenko went down another route.
“When he arrived to the States to prepare for the fight, he said in the Ukraine he felt the sharp pain in his right shoulder,” said Vasiliy’s manager Egis Klimas when discussing the results of a significant shoulder injury that was revealed after an MRI. “We took him right away to Dr. ElAttrache to examine him. We lost one week of training. We lost one week of sparring because the doctor forbid him to do much for a week after the injection.”
With Lomachenko losing a wide decision on the judge’s scorecards to Lopez on the night, the former champion immediately went into surgery the following day to address his shoulder injury.
Since the news of his operation, team Lomachenko has been under fire as many believe they are looking for excuses as to why they came up woefully short. Regardless of the criticism, Klimas wants to assure everyone that he isn’t looking for a pity party. With that being said, he would love for the brash, young and confident Lopez to pull his chair back to the negotiating table.
“We didn’t want to look like we were looking for excuses or something. If it’s possible, we would like to have the rematch. If they are so tough … are they willing to come back and do that?”
Although their contest pulled in nearly three million viewers, which ranks number one since 2017, Lopez has shown no interest in running things back. To the Brooklyn native, he already made his point and see’s no reason in running things back.
“For what?” Said Lopez following his victory. “The same thing is going to happen again.”