It is a deathly slow week in the sport of boxing, but news has trickled out nevertheless. We have some news on the future of pound for pound king Vasyl Lomachenko, the next season of the World Boxing Super Series, a tiny little tidbit on Eddie Hearn’s deal with DAZN, and more.
- Vasyl Lomachenko, the consensus pound for pound top fighter in the sport, apparently tore his right shoulder’s labrum in the second round of his big lightweight title win over Jorge Linares earlier this month. He underwent surgery this week to repair it and reportedly all went well. While this makes Lomachenko’s already super impressive stoppage win even more impressive, it also unfortunately will delay his return to the ring. Loma will not be able to fight in August as planned, but instead the plan is to land his next fight in December. An in house, all Top Rank unification bout with Ray Beltran remains the most likely option by a good margin.
- British power promoter Eddie Hearn has released a mostly empty press release concerning his progress in signing up fighters for his big billion dollar deal with the European streaming service DAZN, but there are some interesting tidbits sprinkled within. Both Hearn and DAZN will be looking to break into the US market together, so Eddie accordingly needs American fighters. He is claiming to have signed up six already and of being on the verge of adding twelve more, but he isn’t listing names. Apparently there is going to be what he is calling a “squad announcement” in June of the signings. Hearn is also saying he will sign the full range of fighters, from established stars, to prospects, to more middle tier guys to fill out his shows and that the plan is to begin having his US cards in the fall.. We’ll see how this plays out.
- One fighter Hearn is on the record of pursuing hard is Jermell Charlo. Matchroom has an interest in basically all the top PBC names as none of them have an official, full time promoter, but he has cited the Charlo twins as items on the wish list openly. Now Jermell is telling the media he has two big offers from two major promoters to consider after his upcoming fight with Austin Trout. Certainly one is from Hearn and Matchroom while the other is very likely from Bob Arum and Top Rank. They too have a lot of dates to fill with their new ESPN deal. Adrien Broner has already publicly shot Hearn down, but Jermell Charlo seems very open to the idea of ending his days with PBC.
- Former top pound for pound fighter Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez was originally set to make his return on May 5th on Gennady Golovkin’s undercard, but that was thwarted by visa issues that are reportedly still a problem. Chocolatito has not been able to get his visa appointment with his own government due to what his team are calling the “instability” in the country. Furthermore, even if he can get to the United States at some point, he will also be required to undergo and pass a brain scan by the California State Athletic Commission before he can fight again. The comeback road for the once great Nicaraguan is looking to be a rough one to even get in the ring, let alone to return to form.
- Finally, the World Boxing Super Series season two bantamweight tournament is turning into quite the field. It appears that much like with the cruiserweights in season one, bantamweight will be the crown jewel of the tournaments in season two. Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue is now reportedly in, joining WBA titleholder Ryan Burnett, IBF titleholder Manny Rodriguez, and WBO titleholder Zolani Tete to further stack the field. The expectation is that the WBSS will also pursue the winner of the vacant WBC title fight on June 23rd between two time French Olympian Nordine Oubaali and little known Thai fighter Petch Sor Chitpattana as well, meaning full divisional unification would be at stake. That would leave three slots to fill, one of which appears headed to unbeaten Australian prospect Jason Moloney. If this plays out like it looks like it is going to, sign me up.
