Vasyl Lomachenko (18-3, 12 KOs) returned to the top table of the lightweight ranks with an impressive 11th-round knockout of George Kambosos (21-3, 10 KOs) in Perth, Australia, to claim the vacant IBF world lightweight title.
Not only did Lomachenko impress in the one-sided affair against his Australian counterpart, but he demonstrated that at 36 he had not succumbed to Father Time as the Ukrainian added more silverware to his already overflowing trophy cabinet.
Lomachenko, who had not appeared in the ring since a narrow and controversial defeat in May 2023 to Devin Haney, didn’t miss a step in an impressive showing.
The Ukrainian, who has fought the likes of Jorge Linares, Guillermo Rigondeaux, Teofimo Lopez, and Luke Campbell, has been linked to a fight against Baltimore’s Gervonta Davis (29-0, 27 KOs).
The promotional divide between Lomachenko and Davis has made any encounter unlikely, with Lomachenko representing Top Rank and Davis part of PBC.
However, Davis confirmed on social media platform X that he would like to face Lomachenko following his scheduled June 15 title defense against Frank Martin (18-0, 12 KOs) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Tank’s comments came after a follower made a post about Davis, claiming the American would never fight Lomachenko.
“He’s [Lomachenko] after Frank… Let me get Frank [Martin] first,” Davis responded.
ESPN, post-fight, informed Lomachenko of Davis’ since-deleted post.
The newly crowned IBF champion calmly responded that he has never run away from any challenges and he will explore the possibility of a unification with Davis once he has taken some rest following his win in Australia.
“You know, during my boxing career, I’ve never run around, and I’ve always taken fights,” Lomachenko replied to Davis. “After I rest a little bit, we can talk about the future.”