A potential bout between Gervonta Davis and Vasiliy Lomachenko has fallen through after the latter decided to sit out the rest of 2024, ESPN reported Saturday.
The fight would have pitted Davis, ESPN’s top-ranked lightweight, against the second-ranked Lomachenko. The fighters’ respective representatives were looking to schedule a pay-per-view event broadcast on ESPN and Prime Video from Las Vegas in November.
Egis Klimas, Lomachenko’s manager, said on Friday that the 36-year-old “is not in the mood right now” to fight.
“He doesn’t have the motivation at the moment,” Klimas said. “He’s taking off, he wants to spend more time with the family. … With Loma, just money is not what motivates him.
“He doesn’t take anything just because of money. You can offer him millions, tens of millions of dollars – if he doesn’t have motivation, he’s not ready to prepare for the fight.”
Lomachenko has not fought since defeating George Kambosos by 11th-round TKO to secure the International Boxing Federation 135-pound title on May 12 in Australia.
An official with knowledge of the negotiations between Lomachenko’s and Davis’s representatives said that Lomachenko intends to return next year to defend his title.
Lomachenko, from Ukraine, is 18-3 with 12 career knockouts and has previously claimed titles at 126 and 130 pounds.
Davis, 29, knocked out Frank Martin in the eighth round of a June 15 bout to preserve his World Boxing Association lightweight title. The Baltimore native is 30-0 in his career and has won all but two of his fights by knockout.
Isaac Cruz, William Zepeda and Shakur Stevenson are all possible options for Davis to defend his title this fall. Davis defeated Cruz by unanimous decision on Dec. 6, 2021, in Los Angeles to retain his WBA lightweight title.
–Field Level Media
