Vasiliy Lomachenko is viewed by many as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the sport today. To prove that he is the undisputed best lightweight, he has expressed interest in waiting for a chance to hold all of the four belts, adding the IBF belt to his WBA, WBO and WBC titles.
To do that, he'll have an eye on the Dec. 14 fight between Richard Commey and Teofimo Lopez. Commey is defending his title, and Lomachenko has said waiting is exactly what he would prefer to do.
Lomachenko's promoter, Bob Arum, said he spoke with Loma's trainer, Egis Klimas, this week and that the three-division lightweight champion now wants to wait until he can become undisputed, Arum told BoxingScene.com.
"Egis says that Loma's desire is to wait unless there is a big offer from overseas to fight this year in which case we will take a fight this year," Arum said. "Otherwise he is going to wait for the winner of that fight."
Arum had previously said Lomachenko might take an interim fight to have one more under his belt until he has a chance to take on either Commey or Lopez.
Now, the earliest Lomachenko is expected to fight again will be March.
The WBC has said that since Loma will not fight again in 2019, the Friday bout between Devin Haney and Zaur Abdullaev will be for the WBC interim belt, a title which currently belongs to Lomachenko. This means the winner would become the WBC's mandatory fight for Lomachenko the next time he is ready.
The last undisputed lightweight boxer was Pernell Whitaker, who held the WBA, WBC and IBF titles from August 1990 to January 1992.