DESPITE REPORTS THAT England’s Luke Campbell and America’s Devin Haney were due to fight for the vacant WBC World lightweight title, the sanctioning body has this evening announced that it has instead accepted a petition from unified world champion Vasyl Lomachenko to face the Hull man for its 135-pound belt.
Campbell’s promoter Eddie Hearn says it’s ‘likely’ that the bout will take place in the UK.
I can’t say I agree with the WBC’s decision but @luke11campbell v Loma is on and likely for the UK! Two Olympic champs and I believe Luke can do it! 👊🏼🇬🇧
— Eddie Hearn (@EddieHearn) May 7, 2019
In an unusual move, WBA and WBO champion Lomachenko has been permitted to fight for another organisation’s unmanned belt whereas typically he would be required to wait for a fellow champion to be crowned by that organisation before partaking in a unification bout.
Lomachenko, regarded by many as the pound-for-pound best on the planet, has instead been cleared to face fellow WBC title pursuer Campbell — the current mandatory challenger — in a clash of 2012 Olympic gold medallists. Campbell beat Ireland’s John Joe Nevin in the London final, while Lomachenko went on to also claim gold at Rio 2016.
Promoter Hearn’s claim that he doesn’t agree with the WBC’s decision is likely due to the fact that he recently signed the aforementioned Haney, who instead of fighting Matchroom stablemate Campbell for the vacant title has now been ordered by the WBC to enter a four-man tournament to determine who will become mandatory challenger to either Lomachenko or Campbell.
To be the best you have to beat the best! I’m ready to fight anyone, no one’s getting in the way of me becoming world champion! #AndTheNew
— Luke Campbell MBE (@luke11campbell) May 7, 2019
The first round of that proposed tournament would see Haney [21-0, 13KOs] face Zaur Abdullaev [11-0, 7KOs] and Teofimo Lopez [13-0, 11KOs] fight Javier Fortuna [34-2-1, 23KOs]. The winner of those de facto semi-finals would then square off for a shot at the belt belonging to either ‘Loma’ or ‘Cool Hand Luke’.
The WBC’s lightweight ‘champion in emeritus’ Mikey Garcia also reserves the right to challenge for the title he relinquished after he moved up two divisions to face Errol Spence, a fight in which he received a one-sided beating. However, Garcia is unlikely to fight again at 135 pounds and so shouldn’t factor into the six-man equation.
Subscribe to our new podcast, The42 Rugby Weekly, here:
