WBC, WBA and WBO lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko 14-1 (10) is set to face IBF counterpart Teofimo Lopez 15-0 (12) in an exciting four-belt unification bout on September 19, according to promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank.
Lomachenko was initially scheduled to face Lopez at Madison Square Garden in New York on May 30 before the fight was postponed due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
“I try to make these fights happen for the fans, the fans are the ones that win at the end of the day. But honestly, we’re not going to wait on this guy,” Lopez said in March.
“We gave him everything he needs and everything he wants, and now he’s complaining about New York, he wants it in Vegas, he wants it in Cali. It’s been annoying.”
Lopez, 22, says he is happy with the new date but hopes to fight in front of a crowd, no matter how small.
“I think it’s a great date, and I know that Bob has been working on trying to have at least a few fans out there, a couple of thousand fans out there, and I think that’s the only issue we’re having right now,” Teofimo said to ESPN.
“With a fight of this magnitude, it’s a fight that needs to have fans.
“We’re training every day, and we’re waiting on it to be official. I would love us to be the first fight in boxing to be out there [at the new Raiders stadium in Las Vegas]. I would love that, and I think everyone else would, even Lomachenko himself.
“We’re prepared to fight with or without fans, and that’s what we’ve come to a conclusion with now. But with this type of fight, everyone is eying for it to be with fans. We just have to make this fight happen.”
Back in May, Lomachenko’s manager Egis Klimas told ESPN he wasn’t worried about fighting in an empty venue.
“Nothing matters,” Klimas said. “As long as Lopez is coming in the ring with Lomachenko.”
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