Face offs! and Staredowns! are always fun to people, for some reason or another, and Saturday night’s Top Rank main event on ESPN+ provided a good one today at the final press conference with Vasiliy Lomachenko and Masayoshi Nakatani.
This one wasn’t good because of long staring, intensity, trash talk, or shoving (be it rehearsed or real). It was good because Lomachenko, who stands 5’7” officially, tried to get Nakatani, at just under six feet tall, to come down to eye level, providing a good natured moment and some smiles.
Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KO) hasn’t fought since his loss to Teofimo Lopez last October, and he definitely has fielded plenty of questions about whether he might get a rematch with Lopez, but he said on Thursday that he’s not worried about that right now.
“I have a fight this Saturday,” he said. “After, we can talk about the rematch. But, of course, everyone knows I want that fight again.”
Nakatani (19-1, 13 KO) has also faced and lost to Lopez, going a tough 12 rounds with him in 2019. The Japanese warrior has another huge opportunity here, obviously, and with an upset win on Saturday, it could be Nakatani looking to get the rematch with Lopez.
Note: Although Mark Shunock says in the video that Lomachenko-Nakatani will air on ESPN Saturday at 10 pm ET, it will not. This is an ESPN+ exclusive card.