Lomachenko’s manager says Pacquiao fight not happening: ‘He’s an old man’

MANILA, Philippines – The manager of Vasyl Lomachenko shot down the possibility of a fight against Manny Pacquiao, saying they are not interested in fighting someone they regard to be past his prime.

“He’s an old man and Lomachenko beating him takes him nowhere,” Egis Klimas told ESPN about the 39-year-old Pacquiao. “If the fight happened, they’ll all say Lomachenko beat an old man and made him come down [in weight]. Even if he beat Pacquiao, they’d say he beat an old guy who was basically retired. We want to fight active champions dominating their weight classes.”

Talks of the fight were sparked Wednesday, January 17 when Pacquiao, an 8-division champion, told ABS-CBN “there are negotiations” to match him with Lomachenko, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and the current WBO titleholder at junior lightweight, 17 pounds and 3 divisions below where Pacquiao has fought since 2009.

Pacquiao (59-7-2, 38 knockouts) has not fought since losing a controversial decision to Jeff Horn in Australia in July last year, while the 29-year-old Lomachenko (10-1, 8 KOs) last fought in December, stopping Guillermo Rigondeaux after 6 rounds.

Pacquiao had said there were discussions about what weight they would compete at, but Klimas feels the fight would be “insane” given their size difference.

“Manny Pacquiao is calling out Lomachenko, who is 3 weight classes down the scale from him. Manny Pacquiao is 147 pounds and he’s calling out Lomachenko, who is 130 pounds. That’s insane,” said Klimas.

“Look, we have our own agenda, our own road and our own plans. That’s where we’re going,” Klimas said. “There’s a lot of champions and good guys at 130 or 135 pounds. That’s where we’re going. Why isn’t Pacquiao calling out [Terence] Crawford? Crawford is moving into Pacquiao’s weight class. Why doesn’t he call out [Mikey] Garcia, who is at 140?”

Lomachenko had said last year he had no interest in facing Pacquiao, saying: “I’m not going to go in there and beat an old guy. It’s complete nonsense for me to chase him.”

Bob Arum, who promotes both under the Top Rank banner, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Pacquiao could return to the ring in April on a card featuring Crawford’s welterweight debut against Horn.

Asked about the possibility of a Pacquiao-Lomachenko fight, a Top Rank executive tells Rappler there’s “nothing to comment on.” – Rappler.com