Home Boxing News Vasiliy Lomachenko undergoes shoulder surgery following loss to Teofimo Lopez

Vasiliy Lomachenko undergoes shoulder surgery following loss to Teofimo Lopez

Vasiliy Lomachenko 14-2 (10) entered his fight against Teofimo ‘El Brooklyn’ Lopez 16-0 (12) with an injured rotator cuff, according to his manager Egis Klimas.

The 32-year-old Ukrainian southpaw lost his WBA and WBO lightweight titles to IBF champion Lopez by unanimous decision at ‘The Bubble’ at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada by scores of 119-109, 117-111 and 116-112 on Saturday night.

It was Lomachenko’s first loss in more than six years and just his third in an amateur and pro career spanning 419 fights.

Lomachenko has undergone surgery to repair the same shoulder he injured in his victory over multi-division world champion Jorge Linares in 2018.

The injury occurred six weeks out from the fight.

Dr Neal ElAttrache performed the surgery, the same doctor who repaired his dislocated shoulder after the Linares fight.

“When he arrived to the States to prepare for the fight, he said in the Ukraine he felt the sharp pain in his right shoulder. We took him right away to Dr ElAttrache to examine him,” Klimas said.

“We lost one week of training. We lost one week of sparring because the doctor forbid him to do much for a week after the injection.”

Lomachenko got off to a slow start against Lopez, 23, giving away the first seven rounds on all three judges’ scorecards.

A pre-fight MRI did not reveal the full extent of the injury, according to Klimas.

Lomachenko also required a second injection for the pain during his training camp, though Klimas claims an MRI did not reveal the full extent of the injury.

Dr ElAttrache explained the injury in more detail.

“It turns out he had badly bruised the rotator cuff and chipped a piece of cartilage, which we didn’t realise at the time,” ElAttrache told Yahoo Sports.

“But we knew he’d badly bruised the rotator cuff and badly bruised the bone where the rotator cuff attaches to the shoulder.

“That was roughly six weeks before the fight and we got him to where he was comfortable enough to train. He said he was able to train okay, but it continued to cause him pain during the fight.”

Klimas said while the shoulder was a factor in the fight, they weren’t looking to make excuses.

“We didn’t want to look like we were looking for excuses or something,” he said.