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By J.J. Alvarez
Dressed in military uniform, Ukrainian Vasily Lomachenko joined the defense of his country after the unjustified Russian invasion at the end of February. This prevented him from facing the then triple Australian champion George Kambosos Jr.
Back then (and still) ranked at the top of the WBO ratings, Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs) was the recognized mandatory challenger of the then champion George Kambosos Jr. who was undefeated at the time and whose immediate objective was unifying belts with American Devin Haney (28-0, 15 KOs), owner of the WBC belt.
Lomachenko and his representatives had reached an agreement with those of Kambosos Jr, but due to the attack perpetrated by Russia, the former consecutive gold medal winner (‘08, ‘12) and world champion decided to stay with his family in Ukraine instead of attending training camp and going forward with his plans to try to win back the belts he had lost to American Teófimo López (17-1, 13 KOs) in 2020.
Following that fight, it was learned that Lomachenko had faced López with a torn rotator cuff in his shoulder for which he had to undergo surgery a short time later. Now restored, he has posted a pair of wins: a ninth-round TKO over Japan's Masayoshi Nakatani in June, followed by a unanimous decision win over Ghana's Richard Commey last December.
Given Lomachenko's decision, the negotiations were restored and an agreement was reached to make the unification fight between Haney and Kambosos Jr. on June 5th (June 4th in the United States) at Marvel Stadium.
During that time, Kambosos Jr. tweeted his respect for the decision Lomachenko had taken, “I respect your decision and I totally understand and I pray for you and your country please stay safe and once I wipe the floor with Devin, we will make this fight between two real champions. God bless.”
When Kambosos Jr. faced Haney, Haney was the superior fighter in most of the 12 rounds and obtained a unanimous decision before more than 40 thousand spectators who attended Marvel Stadium. The scorecards were 118-110 and two of 116-112.
Almost immediately, Kambosos Jr. requested that the rematch clause be enforced which would force Haney to return to Australia again. The fight was scheduled for October 16th at the Rod Laver Arena, with a capacity of around 15,000 people.
Haney, who won unanimously with an exquisite dissertation of boxing. will be facing the winner of Lomachenko vs Jamaine Ortíz. That fight will take place this October 29th at the Hulu Theater in New York's legendary Madison Square Garden.
Nicknamed “The Technician,” Ortiz (16-0-1, 8 KOs) has had a steady rise in the complex lightweight division, where he ranks 7th in the WBC rankings and 12th in the WBO.
On February 23, 2019, Ortiz won the WBC Junior Lightweight Belt by defeating countryman Ricardo Quiroz (11-1-0, 6 KOs). That same year he took the InterContinental Junior title after beating Frenchman Romain Couture, also by unanimous decision. On May 21st of this year, Ortiz was victorious over former world champion Jamel Herring.
Although Ortíz is aware of how difficult his fight against Lomachenko will be, he commented, "I'm excited about this fight. Vasiliy Lomachenko is a great fighter, but I'm here to win. Once I win this fight, I'm targeting a world title opportunity. This is a dream come true."
Lomachenko stated, "I want to dedicate this fight to all my Ukrainian people. I wear the flag proudly every time I step in the ring. I love my sport, and I am so glad to be back. My goal is to win the undisputed lightweight title, but I will not take Jamaine Ortiz lightly. Madison Square Garden and Hulu Theater at MSG have been special places in my career, and I look forward to making more great memories on October 29."