Big news coming out today concerning a major fight once thought to be dead. Pound for pound elite Vasyl Lomachenko will be indeed moving up to lightweight in search of his third world title against the division’s best in Jorge Linares. We also have another world title undercard for Terence Crawford versus Jeff Horn and a pair of ordered world title fights.
- April 14th’s Top Rank on ESPN card is shaping up to be a great one. Not only will it be headlined by Terence Crawford moving to welterweight to challenge Jeff Horn for his belt, but it will have a pair of world title fights to go with it as well. Previously announced was a great super bantamweight title tilt between Jessie Magdaleno and Isaac Dogboe and now we also have a third belt on the line too. Jerwin Ancajas (29-1-1, 20 KOs) will defend his IBF super flyweight title against fellow Filipino countryman Jonas Sultan (14-3, 9 KOs). Don’t be deceived by Sultan’s record. He picked up major wins over Sonny Boy Jaro and John Riel Casimero in 2017. This is a good defense.
- The will they or won’t they drama surrounding the potential major lightweight title fight between Jorge Linares (44-3, 27 KOs) and Vasyl Lomachenko (10-1, 8 KOs) has been settled. They will. May 12th will be the date with an early start time so as not to conflict with Golden Boy’s card on HBO the very same night. My guess is that this show will go on at 8 and HBO will start at 10, but that hasn’t been announced. Golden Boy and HBO will be pairing a live fight with the GGG v Canelo 2 PPV replay that night and the promotional outfit not wanting to compete with itself had been the sticking point in the negotiations. Thankfully, ESPN’s Dan Rafael is reporting all has been settled. This is one of the best fights that can be made in all of boxing. I am very excited
- Finally, these aren’t booked yet, but the sanctioning bodies have ordered a few significant fights that I will briefly touch on. The WBC has directed the always inactive Gary Russell Jr (28-1, 17 KOs) to defend against rising contender JoJo Diaz (26-0, 14 KOs) while the IBF has ordered a lightweight title rematch between Robert Easter Jr (21-0, 14 KOs) and Richard Commey (26-2, 23 KOs). Both of these are excellent fights assuming they come through. The IBF also wants to order Ivan Baranchyk (18-0, 11 KOs) into a junior welterweight title fight. They are only giving Mikey Garcia (38-0, 30 KOs) ten days until March 22nd to decide if he wants to defend his newly won belt against the Belorussian or vacate and go back to lightweight.
