Unified lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko 14-1 (10) has kicked off his training camp ahead of his fight against IBF titleholder Teofimo ‘El Brooklyn’ Lopez 15-0 (12) according to ESPN’s Mark Kriegel.
No official announcement has yet been made about the date or venue, although it is widely expected to take place in late September or early October.
“Vasiliy Lomachenko has officially begun training camp as of yesterday, according to his manager Egis Klimas,” Kriegel said.
“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 Boxing Scene, 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.”
WBC, WBA and WBO champion Lomachenko was last in action against Luke Campbell in August, meaning the 32-year-old Ukrainian southpaw will have spent more than a year on the sidelines when the Lopez fight takes place.
Lopez, 22, impressed with his two-round destruction of the normally durable Richard Commey at Madison Square Garden in December to claim the IBF title.
One fight being considered to the Lomachenko-Lopez undercard is WBO bantamweight champion John Riel Casimero 29-4 (20) and contender Jason Moloney 21-1 (18).
Filipino Casimero, 31, scored a knockout of Zolani Tete to become a three-weight world champion in November. He was expected to face WBA and IBF champion Naoya ‘The Monster’ Inoue but the Japanese phenom is experiencing visa difficulties.
Australian Moloney, 29, delivered a dominant display to dismantle Leonardo Baez over seven rounds in Las Vegas last month.