Vasiliy Lomachenko begins training camp for Teofimo Lopez despite unknown fight date

According to a report from Mark Krigel, lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko has officially kicked off training camp for what is expected to be a unification match against fellow titleholder Teofimo Lopez, although that fight has not yet received an official announcement.

“Vasiliy Lomachenko has officially begun training camp as of yesterday, according to his manager Egis Klimas,” Krigel says. “So you have an official training camp for a fight that is still technically unofficial. I spoke to Teofimo Sr...and he says in due course he expects to be training with his son at Big Bear. Apparently the combination of isolation and altitude will be beneficial for both of them, and they expect the fight to be on the west coast.

“As for the September 19th date which was originally reported by boxingscene, I’m cautioned to take that with some grain of salt. The (coronavirus) surge imperils everything. You see what it’s doing to college football, so what you have is two committed parties, they should fight by the end of the year. September 19th, that’s hopeful.”

With the way things have been this year, boxing is desperate need of a meaningful and attractive bout — criteria which this fight certainly meets. For now we all just have to wait and keep our fingers crossed that it can be staged sooner than later.