Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Teofimo Lopez - October 17, 2020

[Ruthless-RKO]

Teofimo Lopez to be made ‘Franchise champion’ if he beats Vasiliy Lomachenko

By Kenneth Friedman: Teofimo Lopez will be elevated to WBC Franchise champion if he defeats Vasily Lomachenko in their fight in October, according to WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman.

The WBC’s Franchise title can’t be lost inside the ring. That’s the twist to this belt. It’s similar to the WBA with their ‘Super’ and ‘World’ titles, but it can’t be lost.

The WBC’s move will turn their Franchise title into the equivalent of a ‘Super’ title and their usual title into the ‘regular’ strap. That’s how it is with the World Boxing Association. They have the WBA World title [AKA ‘regular] and the WBA Super World title. That’s the upper belt, the one that is more respected by boxing fans.

Franchise title not needed

Lomachenko vs. Lopez doesn’t need the Franchise title for the fight to have meaning with the boxing fan. Indeed, one world title is enough for these excellent tow champions, and it’s redundant when you get the WBC potentially elevating Lopez to Franchise champion if he wins.

It’s bad enough that the WBC has a regular champion at 135 in Devin Haney and a Franchise belt holder in Lomachenko. The WBC is putting themselves in the position where they’ll have TWO Franchise champions if they elevate the 23-year-old Lopez (15-0, 12 KO) if he defeats IBF/WBC Franchise/WBO lightweight champion Lomachenko (14-1 10 KOs) in their highly anticipated unification match in October.

Maybe the WBC won’t care what boxing fans will think of them if they make Lopez a Franchise champion, but they should think about it. This move will give the appearance to fans that the WBC is just looking for sanctioning fees from the different champions that hold titles with their organization.

Given that Lopez will be a massive underdog in this fight with Lomachenko, it’s safe to say that he won’t win. In turn, that’ll save the WBC some embarrassment by not elevating Lopez to Franchise champion.

[Ruthless-RKO]

What a joke, I thought the whole point of the Franchise belt was that you don't defend it or lose it??

[Thomastearns]

Campbell has an amateur style that basically means he was getting into a point scoring contest with an ATG amateur, Lopez is a boxer puncher made for the pro game, will bring a whole nother level of challenger

Good analysis. Luke Campbell is, like many a UK fighter before him, a solid amateur.

I'm sure Teofimo Lopez will bring quite a different challenge from the ultra-solid Campbell but his more athletic style is also going to be leaving comparitvely huge gaps to exploit.

And who does that better than Lomachenko?

Since Loma's phenomenal style relies an awful lot upon movement it's going to be interesting to see what, if anything, has been lost during the lay-off.

It seems crazy to believe that Lopez could ever stop Lomachenko, but that's exactly what the Lopez camp will be praying for.

[H8Usernames]

Its a fascinating fight. The interview with Shawn Porter is interesting, he is picking Lomachenko to win.

This fight really is going to say loud and clear who is who, this would be an easy fight to predict if Lomachenko had never fought Orlando Salido but that fight kind of put it into question if Lomachenko can easily deal with fighters that have more raw punching power than he himself does and as for Teofimo he hits way harder than Salido.

I mentioned earlier about the who is who and lets look at it.

If its a stinker and Lomachenko wins then Teofimo is some irrelevant champion and Lomachenko is the boring overrated fighter that many believed he is.

If Teo knocks Loma out then Voila a superstar is born ofcourse it will matter how the ko comes about and the more dominant the performance the brighter the star.

If Lomachenko dominates Teo then well the eastern european fans were right and he truely is a gran campeon.

If Teo wins a stinker then thats just really a lose lose and Teo will take Lomas place as some champion that is by many regarded as being overrated while the Loma hype will get made fun of.

Watching a bit of the Loma vs Rigondeux action I couldnt help but question who would have won if there was no size difference. A truely meaningless fight.

My pick for this one..... after losing a few rounds Teo connects with something good and finishes Loma off. There will be alot of lucky punch voices and people saying that Loma didnt take the fight seriously so we wont know what is what until after the rematch takes place.

[margaret thatcher]

Salido fight didnt really seem about power, cant remember Loma hurt or anything like that (Salido was the dude hurt worst), pressure and rough housing was the key

[a93]

Refreshing to see a promoter willing to put 2 of his best guys in with each other and also fighters not pricing themselves out of fights.

[lazboy]

In my mind I see a smaller people’s version of kovalev Yarde. Who else thinks this or am I off the mark?

[Ruthless-RKO]

In my mind I see a smaller people’s version of kovalev Yarde. Who else thinks this or am I off the mark?

I don't think teo will gas though...

Yarde literally got KO'd by a jab.

[Cent0089]

In my mind I see a smaller people’s version of kovalev Yarde. Who else thinks this or am I off the mark?

Lopez stamina seems to be excellent. It would need ton of body punching to gas him out and that would not be wise by Loma to go that way.

[lazboy]

In my mind I see a smaller people’s version of kovalev Yarde. Who else thinks this or am I off the mark?

I don't think teo will gas though...

Yarde literally got KO'd by a jab.

I mean like...not literally a play by play but you know...as Max Kellerman says: “the story of the fight”. Lol.

[lazboy]

In my mind I see a smaller people’s version of kovalev Yarde. Who else thinks this or am I off the mark?

Lopez stamina seems to be excellent. It would need ton of body punching to gas him out and that would not be wise by Loma to go that way.

The thing that gasses you out most is swinging and missing.

[NateJR]

According to reports Lomachenko isn't/was never going to give up any of his purse and the fight has been finalized for October.

By the sounds it was completely false that Lomachenko was giving up part of his purse to make the fight. It's hilarious that reporters were falsely saying this nonsense when it was never going to happen. Lopez said in a interview he's too proud for that and would never allow it to happen (Lomachenko giving up part of his purse). Lopez knew the fight was going to be made, there were just a few road blocks in the contract that didn't match up with what was originally negotiated.

Which reports? Can’t say all that and not provide anything along with it?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... ei&ampcf=1

[Onetimeonly]

How would he know?

[margaret thatcher]

Lol our boi Nate made a bigger deal out of it than Teo himself did, whatever happened at least we get to see this sh!t go down now

[Ruthless-RKO]

Bob Arum: ESPN Stepped Up To Keep Lomachenko-Lopez Off Pay-Per-View

Bob Arum remained confident, even as negotiations annoyingly became public knowledge, that his promotional company could finalize contracts for Vasiliy Lomachenko to fight Teofimo Lopez.

Now that it’s a done deal, the 88-year-old promoter is even more satisfied that Lomachenko-Lopez will air live on ESPN. Arum told BS.com late in July that televising Lomachenko-Lopez live on ESPN remained a viable option, but that didn’t become a reality until college football conferences began postponing seasons and ESPN offered a larger license fee to keep their lightweight title unification fight off pay-per-view and even ESPN+, the network’s $6-per-month streaming service.

The working date for Lomachenko-Lopez is October 17, though that could change, according to what Arum told Boxing Scene. Their 12-round, 135-pound championship unification match will take place inside the ESPN/Top Rank “bubble,” at MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas, because fans cannot attend that card.

“What I’m most proud of is it’s clearly the best fight since the pandemic started,” Arum said. “It would’ve been a major fight even without the pandemic, and now it’s being shown to the public without an extra charge. Nobody has to pay 5 cents to watch it. You don’t even have to be subscribed for $4.99 a month to watch it on ESPN+. If they’re a cable subscriber or a satellite subscriber, they get it for nothing.”

The highly anticipated Lomachenko-Lopez fight figures to emerge as the most-watched boxing match televised in the United States since the sport returned to American airwaves June 9. Had ESPN offered Lomachenko-Lopez on pay-per-view, it would’ve been the second of four boxing pay-per-view events scheduled over an eight-week period, from September 26 to November 21.

“One of the people with one of the fighters said to me, ‘Well, on pay-per-view, it’d do like a million homes,’ ” Arum recalled. “I said, ‘No, it won’t. People are out of work. And sometimes people watch the pay-per-view with 10, 12 people in a home, and you can’t do that in the pandemic. People are not gonna be willing to have big crowds in their homes, and I don’t blame them.’ ESPN stepped up to the plate. They’re obviously giving me more [money] for the fight than I normally would get from ESPN, and so they’re to be complimented also. They understand there’s a pandemic, and they’re getting a major, major fight for every sports fan in the country to watch.”

Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs), the WBA/WBO lightweight champion, and Lopez (15-0, 12 KOs), who owns the IBF belt, were supposed to meet May 30 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Barring additional delays, their fight will have been postponed for 4½ months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Arum acknowledged that Lomachenko and Lopez accepted lower purses for their bout than they expected to make before the coronavirus crisis changed boxing’s economic model. Top Rank’s founder pointed out, though, that the Ukrainian southpaw and the Brooklyn-based knockout artist still will receive more money than the minimum purses to which they’re contractually entitled.

“You’ve gotta understand it from the standpoint of the fighters,” Arum explained. “They were anticipating larger purses because there were different revenue streams when we talked [about a fight May 30]. Then we lost three big revenue streams – the pay-per-view, the closed circuit because there are no restaurants and bars [airing the fight], and the live gate, most importantly. So, luckily ESPN stepped up to the plate to help us, and we were able to get these guys really good purses. Not what they were hoping to get, but again, the coronavirus is the coronavirus.”

Lomachenko will be paid approximately $3.25 million to oppose Lopez, who will earn roughly $1.5 million.

“They’re real fighters and they wanted to get it done,” Arum said. “But you have to look at it from our standpoint, also. I mean, look at the situation. We’ve been building this fight for three years and we had hoped to make a good buck on the big pay-per-view and the gate. And we’re not gonna make anything on the fight, which is OK. At least we’re getting it on. But everybody, with this pandemic, has to make sacrifices. I mean, the world is the world.

“I’ve never, in this whole time with the pandemic, asked a fighter to take an amount less than that is in their promotional contract. And what we’re talking about many times, at least in Lopez’s case, is more than we were required to pay under terms of the contract. So, even though they would get less than they anticipated, it’s more than their contracts provide [for minimums].”

[Ruthless-RKO]

Glad that US is sorted..

I wonder who will air it in the UK..

[NateJR]

Lol our boi Nate made a bigger deal out of it than Teo himself did, whatever happened at least we get to see this sh!t go down now

I wasn't making a big deal out of it, was simply saying it was false information. It was even brought up that it was false information on TopRank. People were applauding Lomachenko and acting like he was some saint for something that wasn't true.

[margaret thatcher]

I'm glad you at least got a laugh out of it all mate, now hopefully we will get some cheers with a good fight and a Teo win

[Brick City]

I'm going with Loma everytime. Perfect boxer.

Apparently, in a post fight presser, Carl Moretti hinted it may be a PPV.

He was asked about Haney, and he said something along the lines of, "he's only worried about Lomachenko and Lopez. Haney can buy a ticket or buy the PPV like everyone else."

I'm from the UK, so I have no idea if we'll even get it here as per recent US cards.

Will end up finding an ESPN stream..

Is this fight worthy of PPV? I means it's a 3(4) belt unification bout. It's been anticipated for around 1 year. It's a very good fight on paper and if anyone knows boxing and their styles, it's a must see fight.

I don't think Loma is greedy for money. TR has a big ESPN budget, can easily pay them a cobined purse of $5-6m and it may be happy days. Undercard will be full of TR prospects anyway, smaller purses.

Arum/ESPN are the ones who will get greedy and slap it on ppv. Will be added incentive to add to the boxers paychecks and line up their own pockets.

I think it would be great if this was on regular ESPN.. Forget even ESPN+, just regular ESPN. Of course money is more important than viewership.

What do you American's think? Thoughts?

[Ruthless-RKO]

Arum: Lomanchenko has his green card

Hall of Famer promoter Bob Arum spoke to Peter Maniatis about the showdown between Vasiliy Lomachenko and Teofimo Lopez for the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO lightweight crowns on October 17 at “The Bubble” inside the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to be televised on ESPN.

“The Lomachenko v Lopez fight is done – October 17 – it will be in the Bubble,” said Arum. “Lopez has opened up his training camp in New Jersey. He trained for his last fight there. Lomachenko has been training in the Ukraine and will be training in the United States. Lomachenko has a house here and he has a green card in the United States which makes him a resident of the United States. It was easy for him to come over.”

[Thomastearns]

“They’re real fighters and they wanted to get it done,” Arum said. “But you have to look at it from our standpoint, also. I mean, look at the situation. We’ve been building this fight for three years and we had hoped to make a good buck on the big pay-per-view and the gate. And we’re not gonna make anything on the fight, which is OK. At least we’re getting it on. But everybody, with this pandemic, has to make sacrifices. I mean, the world is the world."


Crikey, what an admission! From a boxing insider, but can we really believe 'grandpa' Bob about not making anything on this fight?

Me neither.

In any case this one should be a cracker. I still think Lopez might have been better off had it been 4 or 5 years in the making, instead of the 3 claimed.

It should be fascinating to see just how confident Lopez appears as we near fight night.

[Ruthless-RKO]

“They’re real fighters and they wanted to get it done,” Arum said. “But you have to look at it from our standpoint, also. I mean, look at the situation. We’ve been building this fight for three years and we had hoped to make a good buck on the big pay-per-view and the gate. And we’re not gonna make anything on the fight, which is OK. At least we’re getting it on. But everybody, with this pandemic, has to make sacrifices. I mean, the world is the world."


Crikey, what an admission! From a boxing insider, but can we really believe 'grandpa' Bob about not making anything on this fight?

No gate? He was hoping for the Vegas stadium, Alegient? Has a capacity of 60k or something, but reckoned with social distancing, could have gotten around 20k in there..

But without a gate, there's no income there..

The fight is on on PPV or even the app where you pay $4.99. It's straight up on ESPN.

I don't think they lose out, because Arum has a nice contract with ESPN, enough to probably cover purses and studio costs.

He means they're not gonna make any additional money on the fight. Just for greed.

[Thomastearns]

“They’re real fighters and they wanted to get it done,” Arum said. “But you have to look at it from our standpoint, also. I mean, look at the situation. We’ve been building this fight for three years and we had hoped to make a good buck on the big pay-per-view and the gate. And we’re not gonna make anything on the fight, which is OK. At least we’re getting it on. But everybody, with this pandemic, has to make sacrifices. I mean, the world is the world."


Crikey, what an admission! From a boxing insider, but can we really believe 'grandpa' Bob about not making anything on this fight?

No gate? He was hoping for the Vegas stadium, Alegient? Has a capacity of 60k or something, but reckoned with social distancing, could have gotten around 20k in there..

But without a gate, there's no income there..

The fight is on on PPV or even the app where you pay $4.99. It's straight up on ESPN.

I don't think they lose out, because Arum has a nice contract with ESPN, enough to probably cover purses and studio costs.

He means they're not gonna make any additional money on the fight. Just for greed.

It's the smalltime journeymen and up and coming young boxers who are likely to suffer the most.

If this is the 'new now' then fights like this could show the way forward.

Once again, credit to both men for signing.

[Ruthless-RKO]

[Cent0089]

Good to see decent undercard fight. They should add some big guys too.